Guardsman
by Master of The Blood Wolves
Summary: A latent psyker winds up in the Dragon Realms and pits himself against the Dark Armies. Little does he know the fate of mankind may rest on his shoulders as well... And with an Inquisitor involved in his own universe, anything could happen.
1. Chapter 1

**Guardsman**

Chapter I

The Death of Private Jenkins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Warhammer 40,000 or The Legend of Spyro.  
><strong>**I do however, own any and all original characters in this story.  
><strong>**And a fair number of 40k-related miniatures, but that doesn't count.**

M41.999 Helhiem, Draco sub-sector, Messiah sector, Ultima Segmentum.

Guardsman Private Vance Jenkins fired wildly over his shoulder with his looted hot-shot lasgun.  
>He'd appropriated it from the corpse of a fallen storm trooper when his lasgun had run dry during the initial assault on Lucifer Hive.<br>He'd also picked up a beautifully worked power-sword from the corpse of the company commissar.  
>Someone had already nabbed the hat, but who'd grab the hat when there was a perfectly good <em>power-sword<em> in the bastard's hand?

Now, three hours, six fire-fights and an order to fall back later, and Vance was running for his life from the cultist mob chasing him and his squad.  
>Up ahead was a viewing area of the hive's surrounds, but the plexiglass had been blown out by an earlier gun battle, and hovering outside was a Valkyrie.<br>'Frak it Jenkins get your ass over here, NOW!' Roared sergeant Norris. 'Word just came over the vox, we're pullin' off planet and letting the Inquisition waste this place!'  
>Vance didn't respond, but quit blind firing, and dashed headlong for the Valkyrie's rear access ramp.<br>His brown hair was plastered to his brow by sweat, and he was gasping for breath, he was better at lifting stuff than running and he had a physique that showed it, even though he wasn't out-and-out. bulky

Las-rounds sizzled past him as his squad mates fired past him at the cultists, who in turn were firing various solid-shot weapons, as well as several looted lasguns.  
>'JUMP!' Shouted the sergeant as Jenkins made it to the rail.<br>Jenkins didn't need to be told twice, he'd already leapt onto a table, taken a step onto the rail and propelled himself towards the carrier, catching several lasrounds in his back plate, giving him extra momentum.  
>He almost made it.<br>But then, _almost _only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades and bombing an enemy installation from orbit.  
>As he hit the rear ramp, he was wracked by a migraine of shocking intensity.<br>He screamed aloud, clutching his skull, and before anyone could grab him, he rolled out the back of the Valkyrie.  
>'Frak!' Shouted Norris punching the wall in frustration. 'Pilot, get us the hell out of here, there's nothing more we can do,' he said, before pulling the pin on a grenade and hurling it back at the cultists milling around in the viewing area.<br>The rear ramp closed just as the grenade went off, killing several of the cultists in the blast.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Vance wasn't dead.<br>He'd hit the side of the hive, and was rolling down it's side.  
>Not that he knew that.<br>His world had contracted to a single blinding point of agony centred on his brain.  
>There was nothing for him.<br>No respite, no thought, only blinding agony.  
>What Vance was incapable of knowing as his squad's Valkyrie burned it's way out of the atmosphere, was that the reason for his migraine was the cultists had just completed a ritual to open a warp rift.<br>And that _he_,- Private Vance Jenkins of the Imperial Guard 50th Eternia infantry,- was a latent psyker.

As the warp rift grew, so did the intensity of Vance's migraine.  
>Eventually, as the first daemons set foot in Lucifer Hive, the pain got too much and Vance blacked out.<br>With his rational mind out of the picture, the warp running wild, and daemons coming to rape his soul, Vance's instincts for survival kicked in and activated his latent power.  
>There was a thunderous explosion, which destroyed the entire side of the hive as above the cyclonic torpedoes detonated, setting the atmosphere ablaze.<br>No one would ever mourn Vance Jenkins but his squad mates.  
>And what they didn't know was that he wasn't dead.<p>

**This is being written on a whim.**

**My primary focus until it is done is Brothers in Arms, with The Tale of the Grey Rider pretty close behind, along with a rewrite of a couple of other stories and a tidy-up edit of the others.**

**So, do not expect this to be updated too often.**

**As such, this might get put up for adoption if it becomes too much of an annoyance, but that doesn't mean I don't want some feedback.**

**As for the bit I'm crossing over:**

**Well, let's just say I'm a sucker for dragons.**

**The next four chapters are there as a courtesy as this is the beginning of a new fic.**

**And the first 40k-Legend of Spyro crossover ever.**

**(If I'm wrong there, let me know, I'd love to see other ones.)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

Contact

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Unknown time, Unknown location-but freezing cold.

Vance awoke slowly.  
>He felt as weak as the fifth-rate recaf he'd had on board the <em>Deliverance<em> before the 50th infantry had made it to Helhiem  
>From the feel of the wind, it was icy cold.<br>Then he realised he couldn't have been vaporised by the Inquisition's bombardment.  
>Somehow the knowledge held nothing for him, and he blacked out.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Another day on the ice.<em> Thought Incandiasa bitterly.  
>She was a fire dragon, and yet she was being forced to eek out an existence in the frozen mountains near the Mountain of Malefor.<br>The unfortunate truth was that with the coming of the Black Dragon Cynder, it was now decidedly unhealthy for a dragon to live anywhere even remotely accessible, meaning they'd been forced to part ways and find refuge in the most inaccessible bolt-holes they could.  
>With a huff, Incandiasa walked out of her sheltered cave before taking to the wing.<br>If she was going to find something worth eating, she'd have to fly a long way.

* * *

><p>Slowly, Vance returned to consciousness again.<br>This time, he felt the biting cold through his partial carapace plate, even though his armour had rudimentary climate control.  
>He knew his situation was dire.<br>Something had happened to cast him wherever he was…something most likely chaos-related, but he couldn't feel any tentacles or deviation.  
>Be that as it was he knew if he didn't find shelter soon he was going to freeze to death.<br>With a strangled groan, Vance picked himself up.  
>His lasgun was still slung over his shoulder, the hot-shot's power pack was undamaged, while the gun itself was next to him, and thankfully its power cables were undamaged as well.<br>The power-sword was a bit further afield, stabbed point first into the ground.  
>Vance pulled it from the permafrost before sheathing it at his waist.<br>The charge packs for his lasgun were spent and languishing in the bottom of his rucksack, along with a translation of a pre-dark age fantasy novel the commissar _definitely_ would've disapproved of, an unread guardsman's primer and some rations.  
>With all his equipment and effects accounted for, Vance looked around at his surroundings.<p>

He was on a snowfield halfway up a mountain, with the only cover visible being a small cave that had Emperor-only-knew-what living in it.  
>Vance cursed quietly, before setting about constructing a bivouac.<br>This took him the better part of a half-hour, and involved a lot of hard work, which Vance was grateful for, as it staved off the cold.  
>In the end, the bivouac consisted of a dugout and a windbreak.<br>Left with nothing else to do, Vance Pulled his sleeping bag from his pack before crawling inside it and taking cover in the dugout, falling asleep with a combat knife ready in his hand.  
>He never saw his captors coming until one of them kicked him in the side of the head, making sure he wasn't about to wake up.<p>

* * *

><p>Incandiasa flew for two hours to the snow plain.<br>A hungry she-dragon might reasonably expect to find an old oxen or some such wandering the icy barrens.  
>But then, there was also a greater risk of-<p>

Wild cries from below told Incandiasa that she'd been spotted, and the first arrows whistling past her confirmed it.  
>Looking down she saw a war-band of apes clustered around what looked like something's burrow.<br>Without further thought Incandiasa locked her wings and dove, avoiding arrows as she came, before snatching one of the apes up in her jaws and swooping away again.  
>The ape struggled wildly against Incandiasa until she threw it higher into the air, then slammed it with her tail, sending it flying into the distance.<br>One down, twenty-something-more to go.  
>With this in mind, Incandiasa dived again, this time readying to rain flaming death and ruin on the servants of the Dark Master.<p>

* * *

><p>Vance came around with a splitting headache, and immediately thought he was back on Helhiem.<br>Then he realised the screams weren't human, but were too animal to be daemon.  
>He didn't know how the screams weren't daemon, and frankly he didn't want too.<p>

He glanced up and saw some sort of strange, primitive, simian-like creature wielding a cleaver standing over him with an ursid pelt draped across it's huge shoulders.  
>It wasn't an ork, but that hardly mattered, as it noticed Vance was awake, and raised its cleaver for a killing blow.<br>Vance was already half-out of his sleeping bag and stabbing his combat knife into the xenos' gut.  
>The simian roared in pain, and kicked Vance flying out of his dugout and sleeping bag, leaving the knife firmly embedded in the thing's belly.<br>Now Vance was cut off from his hot-shot lasgun as well.  
>Fortunately, he'd been in the Guard long enough to pick up on a few things: like ALWAYS wear your armour and weapons to sleep.<br>Of course, this was impossible to do with a hot-shot lasgun, but a power-sword was a different matter.

Looking around, Vance caught sight of a horde of smaller simian-creatures and a single one even bigger than the one that had tried to kill him.  
>Then some of the small ones caught sight of him and charged.<br>Vance drew the power-sword and thumbed the activator.  
>He was no sword-master by any stretch of the imagination, but he'd still managed to win most of his chainsword training bouts on the journey from Eternia to Helhiem.<br>As the first simian reached him he swung wildly at it.  
>The blade of the power-sword cut through the ape's flesh like…a power-sword through flesh.<br>The only problem was he'd only taken off a slice of blubber off it's shoulders, narrowly missing it's head.  
>One of the apes crash tackled him to the ground, before the rest piled in and began pummelling him.<br>_And not even a grenade to martyr myself with…_ thought Vance bitterly.

Suddenly, in an instant he was back aboard the _Deliverance._

He was on the training deck with the rest of the squad laying on his back, pouring sweat, gasping for breath and aching all over.  
>He was only grateful the company commissar was nowhere in sight.<br>Then sergeant Norris was looming over him.  
>'Private, tell me something,' began the veteran sergeant in his drawling accent, 'if you go down like this during an engagement, do you think the bugs, or the 'skins, or the pointy-ears, or the heretics are gonna give you a chance to lie down?' He asked. 'Hell no they won't, so get up and kick some ass private!' He finished, shouting.<p>

Back in the present, Vance did exactly that.

Lashing out with the still active power-sword, he stabbed one of the apes in the chest, causing it to stagger back, then keel over writhing.  
>Then, deactivating the weapon, Vance rolled over, coming to his feet and activating the disruptor field on the sword again as he did so, before decapitating one of his aggressors and spitting the second.<br>Then something hit him in the back with tremendous force, sending him sailing through the air, and making him drop the power-sword as he did so.  
>He hit the ground, then slid an extra two metres, coming to rest on his back.<br>His assailant was the Really Big simian he'd noticed earlier.  
>He hadn't noticed the small buckler or the war hammer though.<br>Now the brute raised the hammer, and Vance felt a build up of icy energy.

And in a fleeting instant, as his original assailant and another like it approached as well, with murder in their eyes, Vance Jenkins knew he was about to die.

* * *

><p>Incandiasa gave a startled flutter of her wings when she saw that most of the war-band's grunt troops had been killed, and even more surprised to see a weird looking creature sprawled on the ice with two pack-leaders moving on it and a chieftain preparing to blast it.<br>Giving up on the dive, Incandiasa spat a trio of fireballs at the two pack-leaders, setting their bear-pelt clothes on fire, and knocking them over.  
>Then as she got closer, Incandiasa summoned a halo of fire around herself, and horn-dived into one of the pack-leaders, goring it badly and burning it into the bargain.<br>The ape roared in pain as it fell to the ground, then laid still as it bled out, leaving a patch of steaming crimson on the ice.

Incandiasa whipped around to the second pack-leader, which had cast off it's burning cloak and scorched buckler in favour of taking it's cleaver in two hands.  
>Incandiasa simply bathed it in fire, then summoned another flaming halo around herself and charged it, and flicking it into the air, where she proceeded to flame it again, then take it in her fore-paws and dash it's head against the ice, breaking it's neck with a loud <em>crack.<br>_Then the chieftain clubbed her in the back of the head, and she crumpled in a dazed heap.

* * *

><p>Vance didn't know if it was the luckiest, the craziest, or the he-had-no-idea-what, day of his life, but he did know that if he ever made it back to the Guard, the commissars would probably shoot him.<br>He watched in mute wonder as the vermillion-and-maroon _dragon_ inadvertently saved his life by killing the two cleaver-wielding simians with fire and claw and horn in a manner that would thaw the heart of the coldest commissar.  
>Then the Really Big simian clubbed the dragon in the back of the head with its war-hammer, and went to dash it's brains out against the ice.<p>

Vance had been drilled in the Guard heavily, but he'd more or less retained his personality, only pretending to go along with the indoctrination of the commissariat as far as his own beliefs went.  
>And part of his beliefs had been influenced by the peculiar respect paid to the legendary dragons in the Messiah Sector.<p>

Where another soldier from another sector would've seen two xenos fighting to the death, Vance,- a citizen of Eternia and the Messiah Sector his entire life,- saw some great ape about to kill a living example of one of the legendary creatures revered on his homeworld.  
>With a wild cry, Vance jack-knifed to his feet,-no clear plan in mind but: <em>prevent the beast from killing the dragon.<em>

The sight of the ape attempting to kill the dragon kindled a burning anger in Vance.  
>As he got close and leapt at the Really Big simian, he swung a roundhouse punch at the brute's long face.<br>His fist was wreathed in flame an instant before it made impact, and when it did, the ape bellowed in pain, before swatting Vance aside with it's buckler.  
>Vance hit the snow again, and looked at his fire-wreathed hands in undisguised shock, horror and awe.<br>Then the simian was charging at him.

Vance had once seen one of the regiment's sanctioned psykers casting warp fire.  
>He didn't pretend to be an expert in the subject, but he'd been able to entertain his squad mates with a fairly accurate impression in a game of charades before they'd deployed.<p>

Now, Vance thrust his open hand at the ape, sending a fireball at the thing, hitting it in the shoulder, making it stagger back, giving Vance enough time to scramble to his feet and run for his bivouac.  
>As he ran, he frantically threw more fire over his shoulder, hoping he was doing something more than just looking ridiculous.<br>The rough curses and yelps of pain seemed to indicate he was.

As he reached the dugout, he yanked the hot-shot lasgun out of the snow, before flicking the safety off, the setting to 'maximum' and the fire-rate to 'full-auto'.  
>Then he depressed the trigger, as the ape loomed up in front of him.<br>It staggered back as the first couple of rounds punched through it; then it began doing the dance macabre.  
>When the hot-shot's failsafe kicked in due to overheating, the ape was well and truly dead.<br>Vance noted that the flames on his hands had gone out as well, and that the only damage done to the lasgun was soot-blackening to the casing.  
>Deciding not to dwell on what his new-found pyromantic ability meant, Vance retrieved the power-sword, before pulling the rest of his gear together.<br>As he pulled his rucksack over the hot-shot's power-pack the dragon stirred, then pulled itself to it's feet, then looked around and saw him.

* * *

><p>Incandiasa stared curiously.<br>By rights she should be dead after the chieftain had hit her, but there it lay with dozens of steaming holes in it's back, and there stood the strange creature, pulling a sack over it's shoulder.  
>It stopped as it saw her looking at him.<br>Incandiasa took a wary step towards it, causing it to draw what appeared to be a spear from across it's back.  
>'There's no need for that, I'm not going to hurt you,' said Incandiasa clearly.<br>The creature hesitated a moment, then lowered it's spear fractionally, but didn't put it back over it's shoulder.  
>'What are you?' Asked the creature, speaking uncertainly, as if it didn't know how it could speak, there was a tense undercurrent to it's voice, as well as some sort of conflict.<br>'You've never seen a dragon before?' Asked Incandiasa curiously.  
>The stranger shook it's head.<br>'I have heard of your kind, but I thought the tales only myths,' it replied.  
>'Do you have a name, stranger? Incandiasa asked.<br>The creature nodded slowly, never taking it's eyes off of her.  
>'Vance Jenkins, I am of a race that calls ourselves human.' Vance replied, deciding to omit the Imperium of Man and everything associated. He had a funny feeling the dragon wouldn't approve.<br>'Do you have a name by any chance?' Asked Vance in reply.  
>'My name is Incandiasa, and I owe you a debt of gratitude for saving my life.' She replied, approaching Vance not worrying about his strange spear anymore.<p>

Vance, for his part shouldered his lasgun.  
>He was still wary, but he felt that this long talking with the dragon without hostility breaking out was a good sign.<br>The commissar indoctrination was screaming 'KILL THE XENOS!' at the top of it's metaphorical voice, but it was also getting kicked repeatedly in the head by engrained beliefs held over a lifetime.

'What are you doing out here?' asked Vance, suddenly suspicious again, he was suddenly very aware of how barren the surrounding landscape was.  
>'I was hunting for food.' Replied Incandiasa dismissively. 'Not that I'd consider eating you,' she added hastily as Vance went to draw his strange weapon again.<br>'Why would you be up here anyway? There isn't anything for klicks around.' Asked Vance.  
>'Why are you up here?' Countered Incandiasa.<br>'Couldn't say, to tell the truth,' replied Vance, 'last thing I remember was making a jump out of a viewing platform and landing on the rear loading ramp of a Valkyrie gunship, before getting hit with a killer migraine, then rolling down the side of a hive before blacking out, next thing I know I'm waking up wherever 'here' is.' He explained, and got a confused look in reply.  
>Or, at least he assumed Incandiasa was confused, her features weren't even close to humanoid, so it was difficult to tell.<br>'Uhm…okay, well the reason I'm up here is because the Dark Master's armies have driven my kind into hiding; we were winning our war against them until the black dragon Cynder appeared; after she appeared my kind went into hiding wherever we could to evade her and her armies.' Said Incandiasa.  
>'Dark armies? Do you mean like servants of the ruinous powers?' Asked Vance in alarm.<br>'I don't even know what the 'ruinous powers' are, I was always told that the Dark Master was a purple dragon that became drunk on his power and tried to take over the world,' said Incandiasa.  
>Vance looked slightly relieved.<br>'Oh, thank the Emperor, I've fought enough heretics to last me a lifetime.' He said in relief.  
>'Emperor?' Asked Incandiasa in confusion, 'just where are you from? I've never heard of any Emperor in any of the realms,' she asked.<p>

Vance frowned, a possibly heretical idea forming in his mind.  
>But then, as he'd developed psychic powers out of the blue, and the company commissar would conceivably have shot him for it, he decided to say 'Frak you' to the ecclesiarchy and administratum, and follow his own heart, and notions of obedience to the Emperor.<p>

'Incandiasa, have you ever seen any other being like me before?' Asked Vance carefully.  
>'Nope, never.' She replied, 'you're the first 'human' I've ever seen, I've never heard of your kind before, and I've never heard of this 'Emperor' of yours, nor these 'ruinous powers'. She said it succinctly and casually, as if there was nothing secret, blasphemous or world-shattering about it.<br>It rocked Vance to his core.

'Have your people ever had contact with beings who came from the stars?' Quizzed Vance.  
>'Not to my knowledge, but that isn't saying much, I haven't seen all that much of the world, just Warfang, the Dragon Temple, the areas around the Silver River and the valley of Avalar, oh and these damn snow fields, where few people come.' Incandiasa replied.<br>'Do you know anyone who might be able to help me?' Asked Vance.  
>'Well…you could ask the guardians…but they've gone into hiding, and with Cynder abroad it mightn't be the best idea to go looking for people.' Replied Incandiasa hesitantly. 'Look, it's getting late, and it gets even colder at night; I'll let you stay with me in my cave tonight if you let me have any food you've got, deal?' Incandiasa asked.<p>

Vance didn't take long in answering, as his options were limited, and he didn't really fancy suicide.  
>'Deal.' Replied Vance, extending a hand, then realising the gesture was rather superfluous, considering Incandiasa had four-clawed paws instead of hands.<br>'Usually us humans seal a deal by shaking hands, but that's kind of tricky here,' explained Vance apologetically.  
>Instead of answering, Incandiasa placed her paw flat against Vance's hand.<br>'That works I guess,' he said, shrugging.  
>Incandiasa gave a snort of laughter.<br>'I guess it does, well hop on my back and hang on, you don't want to fall off, we can talk about our backgrounds later.' She said, spreading her wings out from her sides so Vance could climb onto her back.  
>'You're heavy.' She said in surprise.<br>'That's just the carapace armour.' Replied Vance.  
>'Sure.' Incandiasa said, then sprang into the air, pumping her wings hard.<br>Vance shouted in surprise, and nearly fell off, before flattening himself against Incandiasa's back, as she angled northwest.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Tales and Choices

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Incandiasa's Cave, Morning after arrival. Still cold.

Vance awoke feeling refreshed, then as he remembered the events of the previous thirty hours, he began debating whether or not it'd just be easier to kill himself.

* * *

><p>When he'd arrived with Incandiasa's cave, he'd immediately dug out the ration packs in his rucksack.'Those don't look like food to me,' said Incandiasa in confusion.<br>'The foods inside them, it doesn't taste too good but it'll keep you going; mind you this is all I've got, and one piece of advice: do NOT look at it, it'd probably put you off eating.' Said Vance, already tearing open a pack that read 'mince stew'.  
>Vance began eating, but dared not look at the rations.<br>Although it did taste like mince stew, he had a feeling it'd look like a tyranid's colon deep-fried and boiled with burnt vegetables.  
>Incandiasa took Vance's advice, cutting the plas-tec top off a ration pack before licking the contents out then swallowing the human-sized portion whole.<br>With this, Incandiasa settled herself down as Vance cleaned out the last of his own ration pack.  
>There were only four more.<p>

'I suppose I'll probably have to try and find some other way to feed myself pretty soon; if I rationed these I could potentially last four days on just those, but that's if I went off on my own.' Mused Vance aloud.  
>Shaking his head he pulled his lasgun's charge packs from the bottom of his rucksack and a tinderbox from a belt pouch, before proceeding to set the empty plastec pouches alight, before stacking the four power cells around the smouldering pouches.<br>'What are you doing?' Asked Incandiasa curiously.  
>'These power cells went dry during the battle I was fighting in before I wound up here, they're designed so they recharge off of radiant energy like body heat or an open fire, although the open fire one isn't recommended as it can damage the cells; either way I'm in desperate straits so I'm not too worried about that sort of thing right now.' He replied.<br>'Well, I think you might have some explaining to do.' Pointed out Incandiasa shifting herself slightly.  
>'Very well, but I warn you some of my answers might not be to your liking, and will most likely have you questioning whether you should have saved me; my only request is that you consider that my people exist in a galaxy where there is no respite, no time for peace and no mercy. There is only war.' Said Vance, putting aside his weapons as a show of faith.<br>'And also know that I'm not like others of my kind in some respects.' He added.  
>Incandiasa nodded once, showing she understood.<p>

Vance took a deep breath and dove right in.  
>He told her everything he knew of the Imperium, it's history, of the few things he knew of things before the Imperium and of the various threats and enemies arrayed against humanity in general, regardless of faction.<br>He also told her the very little he knew of Chaos, from his uncle who'd been a colonel in the Guard decades before, along with observations his uncle had made about humanity's other foes, as well as observations of the various other factions of the Imperium he'd worked with.  
>Afterward he told Incandiasa of his life before being conscripted into the Guard, of his relatively quiet life on Eternia as a farm hand and writer.<br>When he'd finished his long and involved explanation, he'd used up the better part of three hours.

Incandiasa was quiet a long time, considering Vance curiously, as if he were a work of art she couldn't decide whether she liked or not.  
>Finally she spoke.<br>'The sins of your people are not your sins, and you are forced to fight just like my kind are currently, your kind have committed atrocities, and many have turned to darkness; so too have many of my kind.' She said.  
>Vance was silent, waiting for Incandiasa to continue.<br>'You've told me the whole truth of your heritage and people, so I shall give you the same.' She said, before launching into her own narrative.

She told of how dragons like her could command a single element each, whether for battle or for some other use, then she told him of a purple dragon that had been born ten generations before named Malefor.

'Just how long is a generation to dragons? To us humans it's roughly thirty to thirty-five years.' Asked Vance.  
>Incandiasa laughed lightly.<br>'To us it's roughly a hundred years.' She replied.  
>Vance nodded for her to continue.<br>So, some disaster akin to the Heresy had befallen the race of dragons in this universe at roughly the dawn of the millennium, ten thousand years after Horus had betrayed the Emperor. What were the odds?

Incandiasa continued, telling of how Malefor had mastered first fire, then other elements, before going on to master powers none of the dragon elders of the time had thought possible.

'He fell didn't he?' Asked Vance, already seeing the inevitable outcome. 'He wouldn't stop questing for power and tried to take over the world.' He clarified.  
>Incandiasa nodded.<br>'Yes, he was banished to these very mountains, and raised a fortress not too far from here, where he gathered the ape tribes and taught them how to harness the powers of the spirit gems, before he led them against the dragon realms in an attempt to subjugate them, only to end up being defeated and imprisoned in convexity, which is essentially an air-lock between this world and the dark world.' She replied.  
>Vance nodded his understanding.<p>

Incandiasa went on to explain that life had been rather quiet since, even though dragons were regarded with suspicion after Malefor,-now known as the Dark Master,- had been imprisoned.  
>'Then, around fourteen years ago the Dragon Temple was attacked by the apes and laid waste, the guardians escaped and afterward war broke out across the Dragon Realms between the dragons and those who fought alongside us and the Dark Armies of the apes, when things started going our way though, Cynder appeared. She decimated our forces, and from what I heard captured all the guardians, after that the dragons remaining went their separate ways; I was one of them, and like the rest of us I sought out the most remote refuge I could think of, although no one to the extent of my knowledge was crazy enough to come here; even the ice dragons don't come here.' Incandiasa finished her tale and shook her head.<br>'It's late, let's talk more in the morning.' She said.  
>Vance nodded, before pulling out his sleeping bag again, this time making sure he had lasgun ready to hand if he needed it.<br>'See you in the morning then.' Said Vance, then settled down for a supremely uncomfortable night.

* * *

><p>With a shake of his head, he looked at his hands, an idea forming.<br>Yesterday, he'd seen undeniable, incontrovertible proof he was a psyker.  
>He <em>needed<em> someone to show him how to control his powers, otherwise it was only a matter of time before he either exploded or a daemon took over his mind.  
>Coupled with that, he needed a way to take care with the pressing problem of 'food', and the Guardsman in him demanded he stand up and fight against the Horus-like evil that was threatening this world.<br>What better way was there to do that, he mused as he stuffed his sleeping bag back into it's bag, and repacked his rucksack, than to fight against the Dark armies?

* * *

><p>Incandiasa stirred as he re-entered the cave after going to relieve himself.<br>'Where'd you go?' She asked, before stretching, cat like.  
>'Relieving myself;' replied Vance easily.<br>'Right,' replied Incandiasa not enquiring further. 'What do you plan to do now?' She asked.  
>'I plan,' Vance began, shouldering his hot-shot lasgun's power pack, before pulling his rucksack over it, 'on joining the fight against the Dark armies, and this 'Cynder' person.' He replied, shouldering his lasgun.<br>'I could do with some help as well, I'm not the best fighter there is, and you seemed to know what you were doing yesterday.' He added.  
>'Um, Vance, there is no fight against the Dark armies anymore, the Guardians were our war-leaders, without them our forces collapsed,' replied Incandiasa.<br>Vance nodded, you didn't need to be a tactical genius to figure out what had happened.  
>'A decapitation strike,' he said, then hesitated, 'did you say that the Guardians were captured, or killed?' He asked.<br>'They were captured from what I heard,' Incandiasa said, 'why?' She asked.  
>Vance wracked his brains as to why these apes would want their potentially deadliest foes alive, and eventually settled on information.<br>'How long do you think they'd last under torture?' He asked.  
>'I don't think they'd ever break.' Replied Incandiasa.<br>Vance nodded.  
>'Then we still have a chance,' he said. 'If we can find where one of these Guardians is being kept and free him, then that Guardian might know where his cohorts are, and we can free them as well, and from there we can mount an effective resistance, but first we're going to need to find a more central base of operations.'<br>'What part of: 'we all went our separate ways,' didn't you get last night?' Asked Incandiasa.  
>'It just doesn't sit right with me Incandiasa, 'never say die' is one of the few things the commissars indoctrinated us with that I didn't ignore; you're only defeated if you stop believing you can win.' Replied Vance. 'Now look, I could probably take down a fair few apes on my own in a ranged fight, and possibly give the Dark Armies hell into the bargain, but I can't cover ground very quickly on my own, and I've got very limited supplies, I <em>need<em> your help if I'm to be _of any help.' He explained.  
><em>Incandiasa sighed.  
>'You're not going to drop this are you?' She asked.<br>'Nope.' Replied Vance, shaking his head, his brown eyes hard with determination.  
>Incandiasa nodded ever so slightly.<br>'Very well, I'll help,' she said, 'and if it's a good base of operations that's the first on the agenda, I think I know where one is, but we'll have to clear out the apes first.'  
>Vance grinned, and flicked the power setting on his hot-shot to full.<br>'Then what are we waiting for? An invitation?' He asked.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

Don't Say The "=I=" Word

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

M41.999 Aboard the Emperor-class flagship _Deliverance_, crew bay, two days after the fall of Helhiem.

'You know, I heard daemons check under their beds for Sergeant Norris at night.'  
><em>Smack!<br>_'I heard he has a turkey stuffed with a forty-two pound grox-steak stuffed with a commissar for Candle-mas dinner.'  
><em>Bam!<em> 'Next!'  
>'They say that when Sergeant Norris has a good day, he shows a gentler, more feminine side.<br>_Smack-smack! Crack! _'Next!'  
>'Sergeant Norris has <em>never <em>had a good day.'

'Yeah, we know, 'cause we've never had one Connor.' Said private Fergus Spence, the squad's 'silent guy.'  
>'Ah, let him go Spence,' said corporal Darren Rider the plasma gunner, 'he's just low 'cause with Jenkins dead he's got no one to GS with.'<br>'Same reason we're doin' jokes 'bout the Serge.' Observed private Steve Jackson the melta gunner.  
>'Yeah? Got any funny ones Jackson?' Asked Sergeant Norris, as he entered the squad's rec room, from the way he was breathing and the sweaty track suit in his left hand he'd just got done sparring.<br>'I heard your erection can be seen from space, sir,' said Jackson, deadpan, setting off a fit of laughter among his squad mates.  
>'How about you and I go find an air lock, and I confirm that one for you private?' Asked Norris dangerously.<br>Jackson shivered.  
>'I'm good sir.' He said quickly.<br>'Damn straight, now enough of this grox-shit, orders from the colonel: pack your bags, grab your gear and we're to report to hangar bay E-1,' said Norris, already stowing his tracksuit away in his effects, before grabbing his rucksack and effects bag.  
>Things suddenly got grim.<br>If the sergeant was grabbing all his stuff the odds were good they wouldn't be back.  
>'Um…sir?' Asked private Ivan Farrell hesitantly.<br>'Speak freely son, what's eating you?' Asked Norris, shouldering his shotgun and checking the rounds on his las.  
>'Ah, this wouldn't have anything to do with the…exterminatus order would it?' Asked Farrell.<br>'Son, if you don't say the "I" word then you should get by just fine in life.' Norris said. 'Unfortunately, I can't think of any other reason why we'd be grabbing our effects as well, have any of you been looking at erotica?'  
>There was a general chorus of 'no' from the squad.<p>

* * *

><p>The squad tramped towards the designated hangar with all the enthusiasm of men going to their firing squad, though they were going at march pace.<p>

When they reached the hangar, they were met by an imposing figure wearing a deep black cowl, with carapace armour so deep a shade of green it was almost black.  
>His knee-high combat boots were black as well, and there was a power-sword in a black scabbard at his side, opposite a silver-trimmed black bolt-pistol, and emblazoned on the fronts of his boots in sterling silver were stylised "I"s along with a smaller pendant one resting on his breast place.<br>'Shit, it is an "I" word.' Said private Connor.  
>'He really likes his black as well.' Commented Jackson.<p>

'Gentlemen.' Said the Inquisitor.  
>His voice was strong and cultured.<br>'If you don't mind me asking sir, why are we here?' Asked Norris, noting a mean looking gun cutter upgraded with wing-mounted twin-linked plasma cannons with co-axial Lascannons, alongside missile pods.  
>Evidently the Inquisitor didn't believe in too much fire-power.<br>Something Norris decided he liked about the shit-scary guy in black.

'I believe you have a Vance Jenkins in your squad?' Asked the Inquisitor.  
>'We did, but he's KIA by the bombardment, he fell out the back of the Valkyrie before we could haul him in during the extraction, didn't grab on either, just clutched his head and screamed.' Replied Rider.<br>'For the love of the emperor, please tell me he wasn't a heretic, or a daemon, or something,' said Connor desperately.  
>The Inquisitor sighed.<br>'Frak, things just got complicated.' He said, more to himself than the squad assembled before him.  
>He threw back his cowl, revealing the lined face of a middle-aged man, with silvering buzz-cut hair and a xeno-tech augmetic left eye. A <em>high<em> _quality _xeno-tech eye.  
>'Gentlemen, I'm drafting you into my retinue for an Inquisition that will most likely take you to places worse than your darkest nightmares, and see you doing things you never imagined, and fighting alongside allies you've heretofore only known as enemies; the fate of humanity may very well rest in our hands, will you answer the challenge?' Asked the Inquisitor.<br>There was dead silence, then Jackson stepped forward and swallowed.  
>'Aye, I will in the Emperor's name.' He said.<br>'We're all in then, lock and load ladies.' Ordered Norris.  
>A chorus of 'yes sir,' went up behind the sergeant.<br>'Very well, if you'll follow me,' said the Inquisitor.  
>'Before we do who're you?' Asked the Norris.<br>The silver-haired Inquisitor looked back at him.  
>'I am Inquisitor Torias Vanko, Ordo Xenos.' He replied curtly, before beckoning for them to follow him towards the modified gun cutter.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

The Dragon Temple

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Swamp, two days after arrival.

'How far to this temple of yours?' Asked Vance, grimacing as he slid down Incandiasa's side.  
>'Not too far now, I know a side entrance, but we'll have to walk, which is probably for the best, otherwise sentries might see us, or worse, dreadwings.' Replied Incandiasa.<br>Vance grimaced as the questionable water of the swamp floor soaked into his boots.  
>'This is a job for a Catachani, not an Eternian.' Muttered Vance to himself.<br>'What?' Asked Incandiasa.  
>'Nothing.' Replied Vance, waving his complaining aside. 'Lead the way, I'll try and keep up as best I can.' Vance said.<br>Incandiasa looked doubtful as Vance schlepped after her, raising small waves as he dragged first one foot, then the other free.  
>Eventually, it ended up grating on her so much she picked Vance up and put him on her back again.<br>'Just stay there until we're out of the water.' She said in a no-nonsense tone.  
>Vance complied, then proceeded to pour the water in his boots out.<p>

After that it was a tense hour's walk until Incandiasa came to a concealed cave entrance in the side of a cliff.  
>Incandiasa ducked inside and walked a little further in.<br>The tunnel slanted up slightly, and she was shortly standing on solid rock.  
>Vance slid down her side again and drew his lasgun.<br>'Right, I say we have a quick drink now, we're probably not going to have much time when we start raising hell.' He said.  
>Having said this, he proceeded to take a couple of mouthfuls of water from his canteen.<br>When he put the canteen back on his belt, he saw Incandiasa lift her own head from the water's edge.  
>'Let's go.' She said.<p>

* * *

><p>From thereon, Vance lead, glancing back at Incandiasa every time they came to a junction in the tunnel for directions.<br>To the best of his estimation they walked for roughly half an hour through the rough-hewn tunnels, him checking at every corner to watch for potential threats around the corner.  
>Eventually they came to a smooth stone panel at the end of a tunnel.<br>'This is our entrance.' Incandiasa said. 'It comes out in the gardens, be ready.' She added.  
>In reply, Vance drew his hot-shot lasgun.<br>Incandiasa inhaled deeply, then breathed a rippling sheet of fire on the stone panel, which promptly slid up into the ceiling, revealing an exit into a large area.  
>Vance saw fallen statues overgrown with vines, and old skeletons lying discarded.<br>On a large balcony-like structure there was a grunt ape fallen asleep. Either side of it were others, and on either side of the balcony-platform were more of them, along with a pack leader, while sleeping right across from them was a chieftain, directly below the grunt troops.  
>'I'll take the big one, don't get in my firing lane; after him whoever gets closest first.' Said Vance quietly.<br>Incandiasa nodded as Vance dropped to one knee and trained his iron-sights on the chieftain, carefully lining up the brute's head.

Breathe in…hold…exhale and fire.

Vance squeezed the trigger, firing a highly-coherent beam of white-hot light, which hit the chieftain in the middle of the forehead and blew out the back of it's skull.  
>The report was enough to wake the sentries, but one of them immediately went down, killed by a chest shot.<br>One of it's fellows went down from a flukey headshot before the other saw them and raised the alarm, waking it's slumbering brethren, only to take a trio of shots in the chest for it's trouble.  
>The two ape-packs were awake by now and gazing around wildly for an enemy.<br>Incandiasa took advantage of the confusion to spit a pair of fireballs at the leftmost group of apes, even as Vance fired both his guns at the group.  
>'I've got the right.' Vance said clearly for Incandiasa's benefit, before turning slightly and firing both his weapons on full-auto at the milling apes.<br>His lasgun petered out as the charge pack ran out, but Vance kept firing the hot-shot indiscriminately down range into the apes until the failsafe kicked in, after which their were only two left standing, and both of them sporting painfully cauterised holes through legs and shoulders.  
>Incandiasa's foes weren't much better off, although the hardier constitution of the pack-leader and the subordinates that had been further from the centre of Incandiasa's fire-bombing had survived.<br>Vance holstered the hot-shot and feverishly reloaded his lasgun as the remnants of the ape-packs charged their position.  
>He managed to fire off a six shots into the larger pack before he was forced to use the lasgun to defend himself from a grunt's flailing blows.<br>He rolled backwards to give himself time, coming to his feet and fired a short burst at the ape, dropping it, before mag-locking his bayonet in place, and charging into the second ape from the right most group, leaving the bayonet impaled in the grunt's chest.  
>Vance punched the next grunt that attacked him in the face, before drawing his power-sword and running it through.<br>Incandiasa had already knocked four of her assailants down never to rise again.  
>As Vance watched, she knocked the remaining three and the pack leader into the air with her tail, before snatching the pack-leader in her mouth, then biting down hard, effectively biting it in half, releasing a cascade of blood and gore.<br>She proceeded to envelope the three grunts in, flames, before batting two away into the balcony-structure with enough force to crack the stone, then siezing another in her forepaws and dashing it against the ground.  
>Vance killed the last one as it stood back up, activating the disruptor field on his sword and bisecting it at the waist.<br>As the ape toppled over in two halves, Vance deactivated the crackling energy field.  
>'That went well.' He observed to the panting Incandiasa.<br>'It did go well,' she said, before nosing at the corpses.

'What are you doing?' Asked Vance as he pulled his lasgun free from where he'd left it embedded in the ape he'd bayonet charged.  
>'Apes sometimes carry spirit gems with them, they're the lifeblood of my kind; we draw our power from them.' Explained Incandiasa. 'Ah, here we are,' she said, biting through the side of a small sack on the chieftain's belt.<br>Vance whistled.  
>Inside the pouch were gemstones.<br>From the looks of them, Vance surmised that if he were to sell even one back in the Imperium he'd be a rich man.  
>Cautiously, he approached, even as Incandiasa closed her eyes, concentrating.<br>As he watched, Vance saw the gems lose their lustre as Incandiasa did whatever she was doing.  
>Then she opened her eyes and sighed.<br>'There, it's been too long since I last took one of the Ancestor's gifts.' She said.  
>Vance picked up one of the gems that was still glowing slightly with an inner light.<br>-_into a short, sharp burst…_ the words drifted through Vance's mind and he frowned, even as he felt a strange heat wave wash over him, he staggered and fell.  
>'Are you alright?' Asked Incandiasa in concern. 'Are you injured?'<br>'No.' Replied Vance, 'curiosity got the better of me.' He said, showing her the still-glowing sapphire.  
>She nodded as he tossed it to her, it dimmed even as it was in the air.<br>'The knowledge in the spirit gems is for dragons alone, it might be best if you avoided coming into contact with them, who knows what the knowledge might do to you.' She said.  
>Vance nodded.<br>'Where to now?' he asked.  
>Incandiasa motioned to an archway opposite the balcony.<p>

Vance took his lasgun in a ready grip and proceeded to the arch and took cover near it.  
>There was a badly damaged statue standing in the courtyard beyond.<br>Vance turned back and beckoned for Incandiasa to come up.  
>'Looks clear.' Vance said.<br>'Could be a trap.' Pointed out Incandiasa.  
>'Could be.'<br>'Next move?'  
>'Spring the trap, this is a good choke point, solid cover as well.' Vance replied.<br>'Who's the bait?' Asked Incandiasa.  
>'Neither of us, you just have to put a fire ball into the blind spot around the statue.' Said Vance.<br>Incandiasa reared up and backed up until she was satisfied with her angle, then spat a fireball which passed within inches of the statue, before impacting on the far side.  
>There was a sound of shattering wood.<br>Vance tensed up waiting for apes to come pouring around the statue.  
>Nothing was forth coming.<br>Vance gestured for Incandiasa to take the right side of the statue as he moved around the left, power sword in one hand, lasgun in the other.  
>He rounded the statue only to see Incandiasa.<br>Between them was another arch, and through that was a rather ugly looking pitcher plant.  
>Vance didn't pay it any mind until what appeared to be a stamin whipped out at him.<br>Vance yelped and parried it with his sword.  
>Incandiasa breathed fire over the thing, and it made a strange gurgling sound, before burrowing into the soil.<br>'What…the…hell?' Asked Vance.  
>'Frogweed, they live in the swamps around these parts, but I suppose ever since the apes desecrated this place they've moved into the temple to take advantage of the ape's refuse.' Incandiasa explained.<p>

Through the arch were a series of ledges.  
>A small group of apes was milling in another small clearing below.<br>'I'll let you deal with them.' Said Vance.  
>Incandiasa snorted, then spat a barrage of fireballs into the apes putting on a display of intimidation below.<br>Vance shielded his face as the fireballs exploded in bright flashes of flame.  
>When he looked back the apes were dead.<br>All except one, which had taken cover in a gap between two of the ledges.  
>'I'll deal with him.' Vance said, then took a running jump to one of the platforms, before looking at the gap he'd just jumped.<br>Good, no chieftain lurking in there.  
>Vance proceeded to go down the ledges, before facing the ape.<br>It growled threateningly, then leapt at him, only for Vance to roll aside and land in a crouch.  
>The ape went sliding across the clearing to land near a badly damaged door.<br>Vance rushed it as it jack knifed to it's feet.  
>It went to punch him, but Vance blocked the blow, before bringing his heavy combat boot up into the ape's chin, lifting it off it's feet, before he turned on his heel, spun one-hundred and eighty degrees and drove his boot back behind him, hitting the ape in the chest and sending it through the door, leaving an ape-shaped hole in the wood.<br>Vance continued the turn, drawing his lasgun as he did so, and put a sizzling hot beam into the ape's chest as it landed on the other side of the door.  
>'Show off.' Said Incandiasa as she glided down from the ledge.<br>Vance shouldered his lasgun and sheathed his power-sword, before drawing his hot-shot.  
>He took up a defensive position beside the door.<br>'If you'd be so kind?' Asked Vance, nodding to the door.  
>Incandiasa reared up on her hind legs and slammed into the rickety door, smashing it off it's hinges.<p>

A coarse growl sounded inside, and as Vance watched, a chieftain rounded the corner.  
>Vance fired.<br>It was difficult to make out the ape in what appeared to be a hallway, though at least some of Vance's shots made contact.  
>Then Incandiasa summoned a halo of fire around herself and charged the ape, forcing Vance to stop shooting for fear of hitting her.<br>She crashed right into the ape like a flaming meteor, causing it to stagger back.  
>Vance swore and holstered the hotshot, before drawing his power-sword again.<br>Incandiasa's attack had bowled the ape over, and as she spun around now, it came to it's feet, before smashing it's club into the floor, releasing a shockwave.  
>Vance didn't see it coming, and got caught in the rapidly expanding shockwave.<br>He shouted out in pain and toppled over as the energy washed over him, leaving him feeling burnt; Vance hauled himself to his feet.  
>The beast would pay for that.<p>

Incandiasa had leapt over the shockwave and brought the chieftain down again, and was trying to kill it with a bite to the neck.  
>The chieftain was grimly holding her back, trying to shift it's grip.<br>Vance felt a chill as he realised what it was trying to do, and activated the disruptor field on his power-sword and sprinted forward, only for a pair of pack-leaders to drop from the roof and bar his way.  
>Vance shrugged his lasgun around and shot one point blanc on full-auto even as he drove his sword up to the hilt in the second one's chest, before twisting and pulling it out through it's side.<br>Both apes fell dead, and Vance threw aside his lasgun as he kept running at the chieftain, before burying the power sword in it's neck as it got a grip on Incandiasa's upper and lower jaws.  
>It flinched as the blade bit home, allowing Incandiasa to break free of it's attempted neck-breaker and deliver the death blow, taking the chieftain's long face in her jaws and twisting it's head, breaking it's neck with a sound of bone scraping against bone.<br>Incandiasa looked up from her kill in time to see Vance break the neck of a grunt.  
>His power-sword was buried in a second one's forehead.<br>Then another two crash tackled him.  
>She was about to tail-slam them when she saw something that surprised her.<br>Vance thrust his hand at one of the apes and a ball of indigo fire hit it in the chest, throwing it clean off of him, before he did the same with the second ape, which landed on top of the first one.  
>He jack knifed to his feet and faced the two apes as they stood.<br>It suddenly felt cold in the hall, and Incandiasa saw ice accumulating on the walls.  
><em>He's a psyker.<em> Thought Incandiasa, remembering what Vance had said about the mystically gifted members of his race.  
><em>That's why he's been so grim, he's afraid of what might happen if he uses his power by accident.<em> She realised, and judging by how he was hesitating now, he was remembering all over again.  
>'Just do it!' Shouted Incandiasa.<br>Her shout galvanised Vance into action, and he stepped forward, thrusting both hands at the apes, releasing an inferno of indigo fire at them.  
>The apes screamed once, then were reduced to ash by the eldritch fire.<br>Vance stepped back, and closed his hands, but the fire didn't fade, and the ice kept accumulating.  
>'Vance?' Said Incandiasa uncertainly, laying a paw on the human's shoulder.<br>There was a ripple in the air and the ice accumulated on the walls melted explosively into steam.  
>Vance cradled his head in his hands.<br>He fell to the ground gasping.  
>'I guess I should've told you I'm a psyker myself, but I only discovered myself when I saved you on the snowfields, I've been coming to terms with it…and it scares me, and that's the reason why, I can't control it.' Vance said weakly.<br>Then he picked himself up sharply and pulled his power-sword from the corpse he'd left it in, before retrieving his lasgun.  
>'You still managed to throw fireballs then though…I guess you learned how from that spirit gem you picked up.' Incandiasa observed.<br>They set off down the hall again, alert for danger.

'Do you think I might be able to learn how to control my power if I were to try and use these spirit gems?' Asked Vance.  
>'The only way is to practice…knowledge given is a lot more dangerous to the receiver than knowledge learned.' Incandiasa said.<br>'Could you teach me? My powers seem to revolve around fire, and you're a fire dragon.' Asked Vance.  
>'Maybe.' Replied Incandiasa, then stopped.<br>They'd come to a door that was intact.  
>Beyond, Vance could hear voices, but they weren't ape voices.<br>Wordlessly, Vance took up a defensive position beside the door.

* * *

><p>'Did you hear that?' Asked a voice from the other side of the door, muffled slightly by the wood.<br>'I did…we aren't alone here.' Said another voice; this one was graver, and older than the firs one which had sounded young and slightly apprehensive or excited.  
>'Vance,' said Incandiasa, motioning for him to put his weapon away.<br>Vance did so hesitantly and stepped out of cover.  
>They both stepped back as the door creaked open.<br>Standing on the other side of the door was another fire dragon, older than Incandiasa, and also taller by about three feet.  
>And by it's side was a smaller dragon, about as tall as Vance was, only purple and orange-gold.<br>The older dragon's eyes widened in surprise.  
>'Incandiasa, what are you doing back here?' Asked the older dragon.<br>'I was convinced to come back here Ignitus, I found someone on the snowfields who saved my life from an ape war-band, and convinced me to help him fight.' Explained Incandiasa to the older fire dragon.  
>'I do not see anyone with you.' Observed the older dragon.<br>'He's not a dragon,' said Incandiasa, then gestured to Vance.  
>'This is Vance, he says he's a human, he convinced me to help him fight against the dark armies.' Said Incandiasa.<br>Vance stayed very still as Ignitus regarded him with a suspicious eye.  
>'I see you met someone who convinced you to come back here.' Observed Incandiasa.<br>'Yes, this is Spyro.' Said Ignitus.  
>The group was silent for a long moment.<br>'You do realise I don't trust your companion, he looks a lot like an ape to me.' Ignitus said.  
>Vance held his tongue.<br>'And I notice your young friend there's a purple dragon,' said Incandiasa dryly, 'so I'm not going to trust him on the basis of history.' She added.  
>'You do realise the longer we stand here the greater chance there is that the apes will find us.' Pointed out Vance, startling Spyro and Ignitus.<br>'There're no apes left the way we came,' said Ignitus.  
>With a impatient sigh, Vance threw his guns at his feet, along with his sword.<br>'Satisfied?' He asked, meeting the old fire dragon's gaze.  
>'I suppose so.' Conceded Ignitus.<br>With that, he turned and stepped aside, clearing the way for them to enter.  
>Vance gathered up his weapons and followed, gazing around the chamber.<p>

Clearly the ravages of time had taken their toll, but the space was still grand, and a pool of algae clouded water took up the centre of the space.  
>'What's with the ape?' Asked a voice.<br>Vance glanced around, but couldn't see a speaker.  
>'Apparently he's on our side Sparx.' Vance caught the purple dragon,-Spyro,-saying to what appeared to be some sort of insect.<br>Vance ignored them.

'How much of this temple have you managed to reclaim?' He asked Ignitus.  
>The old fire dragon looked at him.<br>'Since you and Incandiasa came through the gardens, all of it, except for the west wing, but that part of the temple is nearly inaccessible without a team effort.' Ignitus said.  
>Vance nodded, then promptly dropped to his heels in exhaustion.<br>'Right, so what happens now?' He asked.  
>'I had planned on taking the time to teach Spyro how to control his fire breath, and proceed from there.' Ignitus replied. 'What was your plan, human?' Asked Ignitus.<br>Vance shrugged self consciously.  
>'My plan was take back this temple from the apes, find out where one of the guardians was being held, free said guardian somehow, repeat the second phase with the other three guardians, then take the fight to Cynder and the dark armies with lasgun and power-sword.' Replied Vance, 'oh, and not get killed in the process.' He added as an after thought.<br>'A rather general plan if you ask me.' Said Ignitus.  
>'Fewer chances for it to go wrong, do you know where any of the four guardians are being kept?' Asked Vance.<br>'Ignitus _is_ one of the guardians Vance, the guardian of fire; he taught me how to wield my power when I was Spyro's age.' Incandiasa said.  
>Vance raised an eyebrow.<br>'That speeds things up considerably,' he said nodding.  
>'He might be able to help you figure out your own powers as well,' added Incandiasa.<br>Vance grimaced, but said nothing.  
>'Powers?' Asked Ignitus, and Vance had perforce to explain, which he did succinctly, and also outlined the inherent risks a psyker faced.<br>'I can't control it though, once I start, I can't turn it off unless my focus is broken, and the longer I use my power the more chance of something going horribly wrong, it's safer if I just stick to more conventional methods of fighting.' Added Vance, patting his lasgun for emphasis.  
>'Okay, I agree with the potential-end-of-the-world there when he says that his power has more risks than advantages.' Said the insect Sparx.<br>'You'd do better to learn how to control your power human,' replied Ignitus, 'if you don't and you use it inadvertently and can't stop, then you'd end up destroying everything.' He said.  
>Vance sighed, and looked at his hands.<br>'Vance, it's for the best, and it's another weapon you can turn against the dark armies, just look what you did back in the hall there.' Pointed out Incandiasa.  
>Vance rubbed his brow wearily.<br>'Alright, I'll do it.' He said, with obvious reluctance.  
>'We're all gonna die.' Said Sparx melodramatically.<br>With that, Ignitus stood, and gestured to the left hand door into the room they were currently in.  
>They all stood and silently filed through.<p>

**Well, just to prove I can count, here's chapter five.**

**Thankyou to blackdrac18 for being the first to favourite and to Hideout Writer for being the first to Review.**

'**til next time:**

**No One Liners**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

Aboard the _Aquila Ascendant_

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

'Hole-e-shit.' It was all private Connor could manage as they saw the Inquisitor's ship.  
>'Impressive ship,' admitted Norris to the Inquisitor, 'what'd you, er…trade for it?' He asked.<br>'A bucket of blood, two of my best men, my favourite pair of boots and three million imperial credits.' Replied Vanko. 'In reality the ship master owed me a big favour for bailing his arse out of trouble with some of my more puritanical colleagues; my price was his ship, so he turned it over to me and retired to Damocles with his personal fortune, and I got the _Aquila Ascendant_, and let my pet cogboy and Jokaero give her an overhaul.'

The _Ascendant_ was on it's basic design an old freighter, nearly three kilometres in length, and utterly dwarfed by the ships of the Imperial Navy that surrounded it.  
>Somehow the four lance-batteries mounted on the <em>Ascendant's<em> flanks and the torpedo tubes and converted hangar bays made it seem more threatening.  
>The fact it also sported a pair of weapons that were obviously of Eldar make but not readily identifiable made it all the more intimidating.<p>

'D-cannons adapted for ship-to-ship combat,' explained Vanko when private Jackson asked what they were. 'If suspect ships have any sense when I come calling they power down and sit there while I go about my business, otherwise those guns can make us much of a mess as a Nova Cannon.' He added.

When they landed in the hangar bay, Norris noted several pilots lounging around the hangar, as well as Fury interceptors waiting for deployment.  
>'This hangar is dedicated to the upkeep of my gun cutter and my wing of Furies.' Said Vanko to the Guardsmen.<p>

* * *

><p>They proceeded deeper into the ship, before taking an elevator ride up to a private quarters suite at the base of the ship's elevated bridge.<br>As the blast doors opened, Norris instantly went for his lasgun, as did his squad.  
>Only for his limbs to be frozen in place as he raised his arms.<p>

'Really Inquisitor, I don't like having to work with mon'keigh anymore than you like having to work with me, but please, if you want to try and stab me in the back, do it yourself and don't hire dumb muscle from the Guard.' The voice was rich, melodious and quite obviously feminine.  
>'Stand down sergeant, Farseer Iriannel is on our side, an ally of situation.' Said Vanko neutrally.<p>

The Eldar Farseer who'd been until that moment lounging in a plush armchair stood gracefully.  
>She was nearly seven feet tall, had maroon hair done up in a top-knot that cascaded around her shoulders and the delicate features and pointed ears of all her race.<br>A graceful helm sat beside her chair on a small table, while an ornate staff lent against it.  
>Norris also marked a shuriken pistol at her hip and a sword variant witchblade at her hip.<br>For all her alien beauty, this Eldar woman was a warrior you didn't want to piss around with.

'Now then,' said the seer. 'I believe you humans will be after some answers about that psyker you lost on that husk of a planet two days ago.' Iriannel said.  
>Norris went to reply with something less than diplomatic, but found he couldn't make his tongue work.<br>'We lost a heap of bolt magnets on Helhiem, none of them attached to us,' said Spence.

The Farseer gave him a patronising look with eyes as red as her hair.  
>'Do not be glib mon'keigh, it just makes you look more foolish in my eyes, deep down you know who I was referring to,' Iriannel admonished.<br>'Jenkins.' Rider said.  
>'Yes, quite a powerful psyker, but his powers had lain dormant for the entirety of his life up until two days ago when the cultists on that planet opened a gateway to the warp; the backwash awakened his powers, and destroyed half of the hive you were escaping from before the good Inquisitor's bombardment vaporised the atmosphere.' Iriannel said.<br>'So Jenkins is dead, why're we here?' Asked Norris.  
>'That's the crux of the matter, he <em>isn't <em>dead, his power somehow transported him into another world.' Vanko cut in. 'Don't ask me how it's possible, it wasn't me who figured it out.'  
>'Indeed, it took my master all of yesterday to locate him,' chimed in Iriannel.<br>'So what's this got to do with us?' Asked Norris impatiently.  
>'The Imperial tarot is predicting the rise of some sort of daemon associated with the world the private ended up in, and something else came up: A dragon.' Vanko said.<br>'Right, so the disaster will happen in the Messiah Sector, but I don't see how it effects us.' Norris said.  
>'The seer council of Ulthwé sent me to the Inquisition under the protection of the Coven of Isha to prevent this from occurring, and the reason you got picked is because the less people who know that private Jenkins is missing, the fewer there are to tell the ones who wish to unleash this menace on the Imperium and the galaxy at large.' Iriannel explained.<br>'And who'd be sick enough to unleash this daemon here?' Asked Jackson.  
>'For once, it isn't a chaos cult as such, which is unusual.' Replied Vanko, pouring a glass of brandy from a decanter on a sideboard.<br>'Then who, the bugs? The godless space communist xenos? The piratical elements of the Eldar?' Asked Connor.  
>'It's a cult, just not a chaos cult, it's an extremely secretive cult operating throughout this sub-sector calling themselves the Cult of the Purple Dragon.' Replied Vanko. 'My inquisition suggests that they're widespread and entrenched, the cult on Helhiem that was at the centre of this little shit-show was unrelated, but may have played right into this cult's hands by removing Jenkins from this reality.'<br>'What the hell could Jenkins have possibly done to foil this cult?' Asked Spence in confusion.  
>'We're not sure how he works into this entire thing; he may have been the catalyst for this daemon's coming,-he is a latent psyker after all,- he might've been planning on exposing the cult to the Inquisition, we don't know, there are two many unknowns in this whole affair, the only piece of solid Intel we have is from Iriannel's scrying the future; something is going to happen on the wild-world of Ravenwatch six months from now, you're along because you're the best link to Jenkin's I've been able to dig up, now a servitor will show you to your quarters, and after you've stowed your gear go down to the armoury, Romanov and Dejyyykt will be waiting so you can outfit yourselves with some toys a couple of steps above those flashlights of yours.' Ordered Vanko.<br>'Sir.' Norris replied, then he and his men filed out of the room.

* * *

><p>'That went better than I expected.' Said Iriannel.<br>'They're Guardsmen, frontline grunt-troops, and I've read Norris' file; career soldier, hard-arse extraordinaire and veteran of nearly sixty campaigns, the rejuvenate procedures have kept him young and fighting.' Replied Vanko.  
>'And what say you Eldrad? Anything you gleaned from those men about Jenkins?' Asked Vanko.<br>An eight-foot wraith bone construct that had been masquerading as a particularly ornate statue in a corner shuffled out into the light.  
>It wielded a staff similar to Iriannel's as well as a huge witchblade at it's side, and arm mounted shuriken catapults.<br>+I believe the psyker that we're focusing our efforts after will be a hurdle for the Cult of the Purple Dragon, whether he is in our universe or the one his powers sent him to, all I can say for sure is he's in company with three dragons at present, and just saw action; I cannot say more, as it's difficult enough to find this psyker, let alone glean any details beyond the exceptionally broad, we were lucky he was near a pool used for scrying, otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to glean anything.+ Said the wraithguard variant.  
>'More useful than what the Imperial tarot said at any rate, thank you honoured seer.' Said Vanko with a curt bow.<br>With that, Vanko crossed to a terminal in the wall.  
>'Shipmaster, set a course for Ravenwatch, I want to get a lay of the land before the competition gets there.' Vanko said, before deactivating the terminal, not waiting for a reply.<br>'I'll leave you two to do as you see fit for now, my savants have compiled a list of hypothesis they believe this 'daemon' might be, and Romanov and Dejyyykt believe they've finally made a man-portable plasma weapon that won't explode after two shots.' Vanko said, before leaving the room.

* * *

><p>'Little things entertain little minds.' Said Iriannel, shaking her head.<br>+For them that's a step forward, a very rare thing where the Mechanicum is concerned.+ Said Eldrad Ulthuan, shrugging, the motion barely discernible on the wraithguard construct his remaining spirit stones had been stockpiled in.  
>'You've spent too long in the warp master, the constant running from She Who Thirsts has made you see things that aren't there.' Iriannel replied.<br>+Which would be worrying, except I managed to find a being chaos can't touch as a companion.+ Eldrad replied sagely. +Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to attempt to contact this psyker and show him how to use his power without suffering the perils most of his kind do.+

**And there's the beginning of a plot.**

**Thank you to Hideout Writer and Obsessed Nuker for reviewing.**

**Nuker in particular for pointing out something glaringly obvious in regards to Inquisitor Vanko's gun cutter and for noting a couple of things I should've included involving Vance's state after the fight on the snow plain.**

**So, thanks again you two.**

'**til next time: No One-liners.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Phantoms of the Mind

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Temple. Two days after arrival.

Vance sat to the side of the training room as Ignitus put Spyro through his paces in terms of ability, and was mildly surprised, much like Incandiasa when Spyro mastered everything Ignitus had to teach within four hours of beginning.  
>By which time the sun was beginning to set.<br>'I don't think I've ever seen anything as crazy as that before;' commented Vance, 'I've seen the sanctioned psykers in the Guard throw warp fire and shoot lightning from their fingertips, but not one among them was any good in a close-quarter engagement.'  
>'Thanks…I guess.' Spyro replied.<br>'Good work, but you've still got some practice to do kiddo, like maintaining your fire breathing for over ten seconds.' Said Incandiasa with a touch of superiority.  
>Vance had listened in quiet amusement as Incandiasa grumbled in jealousy as Spyro had mastered in hours what had taken her nearly three years to learn.<p>

'Now Vance, let's see what you can do, leave your weapons off to the side if you will.' Said Ignitus, gesturing for Vance to go to the centre of the room.  
>Vance quickly unslung his weapons and unbuckled his sword, rolling his shoulders to loosen up.<p>

Sergeant Norris had been by far the best in his squad at unarmed combat, displaying brilliant balance and the ability to break a man's neck with nothing than his feet with a well placed kick.  
>Vance had nowhere near the same skill, but eight months warp-transit being drilled in forms of warfare ranging from heavy-weapons, sniping and special weapons like flamers and plasma guns to chainsword duelling and unarmed free-for-alls had given him a tolerable level of proficiency.<p>

'To start off, don't try and use your power, just try and defeat these dummies,' Ignitus said.  
>Vance raised his guard and listened intently.<br>A moment later and a straw, wood and Hessian construct made to look like a ape materialised in a puff of smoke and flame and came loping at Vance, slower than any real ape he'd face.  
>Vance turned slightly and sidestepped the dummy before driving his elbow into it's neck. A blow designed to crush the windpipe and trachea.<br>To be sure, Vance grabbed the dummy's head as it landed, and proceeded to twist it's head off with a neck-breaker.  
>By then the next one was almost on top of him and Vance was forced to roll aside, then roll away again to avoid the dummy's flailing arms.<br>Realising he'd be rolling for the rest of the day if he didn't try something else, Vance's next trick was to pull one of the dummy's legs out from under it by twisting it's lower leg with his feet, then jack-knifing to his feet and kicking the dummy over before curb-stomping it.  
>The third never materialised.<br>'Effective,' Ignitus said, 'but that wouldn't do much good against a group of foes.' He observed.  
>'I wouldn't go near that sort of fight without a weapon.' Countered Vance.<br>'True, but let us proceed; next, try and summon this ability of yours; fire is like emotion incarnate, if you can control it you can become a formidable foe.' Ignitus explained. 'Now, begin.'  
>Another small dummy appeared and Vance brought his guard up again, though he had no idea what he was supposed to do now.<br>Feeling completely foolish, Vance groped around within his mind for whatever triggered his ability, but was too late, as the dummy punched him in the gut.  
>In retaliation after doubling over winded, Vance grabbed it by the groin and yanked it off balance, before pummelling it with his fists.<br>The dummy disappeared.

'Enough for today, we're all tired; Vance, we'll begin afresh tomorrow.' Ignitus said.  
>'You were joking before, that's good.' The dragonfly Sparx said, then flew out of the training room.<br>Vance silently went to retrieve his equipment.  
>'Don't worry yourself about it Vance, it took me six months of hard practice before I could breath fire at will.' Incandiasa said encouragingly.<br>'I'm always going to worry,' Vance replied dryly. 'I've just got more reason to if I can't control these powers of mine; I just hope that I'm on the lower end of the power spectrum, like low tertius level.' He said.

Incandiasa sighed.  
>On the long flight from the snow fields, this wasn't the first thing that Vance had said relating to his own world she hadn't understood.<br>The other things had been related to equipment evidently common in his own world that he'd wished he'd had, but this 'scale' was also new to her, though to prevent Vance from brooding on it she didn't pursue the subject.

* * *

><p>That night, Vance crashed hard.<br>Ignitus could've decided to kill him in his sleep to nullify a potential threat, and Vance never would've woken at the guardian's approach.

The reason was, he was finding out exactly _why_ the 50th's sanctioned psykers had seemed so sleep-deprived and insane.

He was experiencing a vivid nightmare.  
>A hell-scape of broken bones and desiccated corpses upon which he stood in his armour with a lasgun, and was being leered down at by a Bloodthirster.<br>Vance did the first thing that came to mind:  
>He pulled the lasgun's trigger, only to find the weapon was dry.<br>The Bloodthirster chuckled nastily.  
>Then Vance did the sensible thing and began running, knowing it was ultimately a useless gesture.<p>

Everything suddenly went different shades of swirling blue.  
>Vance looked around wildly, wondering what could possibly be happening now.<br>+Peace.+ The word echoed throughout the vision.  
>+Who are you?+ Called Vance in reply.<br>The voice chuckled.  
>+Not a daemon, if that's what you mean; I don't believe you are ready to know who and what I am, but let's just say your role in the grim darkness of the forty-first millennium is not yet done, and to fulfil your role you must learn to control your powers. I am here to help you accomplish that.+ The voice said.<p>

As if heard from a distance, there came the sound of the Bloodthirster roaring in mortal agony.  
>+Hmm…Kaldor is keeping himself busy it seems.+ The voice said, almost to itself. +Now, relax, don't fight me, and this shouldn't hurt.+<br>Vance went to ask something, but a feeling of intense heat shot through him, and he hunched over.  
>He screamed in pain, then he found himself with indigo fire in his hands once again.<br>A blood-letter materialised a short distance away.  
>+Burn it.+ The voice said.<br>Vance thrust his open hand at the daemon as it rushed at him.  
>A blast of indigo fire met the daemon and it vanished in a swirl of ephemeral shadow, but the flames kept coming.<br>Then they vanished.  
>+You can summon the fire.+ Observed the voice. +But you can't dispel or control it.+<p>

The intense heat returned, then vanished to be replaced by bone-deep cold.  
>More blood-letters appeared, along with plague-bearers.<br>+Again. And this time _you_ control the fire; do not let it do as it will.+ The voice instructed as the daemons began to fan out and close in.  
>Vance thrust his open palms at to either side and let loose blasts of indigo flame, immolating the daemons closest to him, but this time afterward the flames continued to pour from his hands as he turned the twin infernos on the other daemons, before letting them peter out in favour of throwing a duo of fireballs at the last two plague bearers, reducing them to clouds of pestilent vapour.<br>+You have the general idea now.+ The voice said. +Now you just have to apply this knowledge in the materium the next time you use your powers. Now, sleep the daemons will not approach while the Grey Knight prowls near.+  
>Vance went to ask just what the voice meant, and who it was, but then everything winked out of existence and he was asleep within the safety of his own head again, untroubled by daemons or psychic voices.<p>

* * *

><p>Aboard the<em> Aquila Ascendant, <em>six months out from Ravenwatch.

The wraith bone construct that was the material home of the soul of Eldrad Ulthuan lurched to life.  
>+There. I have given this psyker the knowledge to control his power,-which is as considerable as we'd thought,- I and Iriannel shall continue watching, but that is all for now.+ He said.<br>'You volunteer our services so readily Wraithseer?' Asked Iriannel coldly.  
>+You saw as well as I that this psyker is the bane of the daemon this Cult seeks to summon.+ Eldrad replied.<br>'Do as you see fit honoured Farseer,' said Inquisitor Vanko, 'the Navis Nobilite put us at around six months from Ravenwatch, and the Tarot puts the Cult at about eight, in the meantime we must use that time as best as possible; I suggest attempting to get our respective retinues cooperate peacefully.'  
>'Your idealism is refreshing mon'keigh, but naïve; ten thousand years of mistrust and xenophobia cannot be undone in a century, let alone six months.' Iriannel stated.<br>+And the same for our own arrogance and elitism; we've done little enough to earn the trust of humanity.+ Eldrad stated, visibly startling Vanko, as the ancient seer usually deigned not to comment on the philosophical debates and arguments the Inquisitor and his younger compatriot engaged in.  
>'I heard you were responsible for Ghazgkhull Thraka's invasion of Armageddon; a war that has cost billions of human lives, what has caused your change of heart?' Enquired Vanko.<br>+A Grey Knight's aid.+ Said Eldrad cryptically.

* * *

><p><span>Temple, three days after arrival.<span>

'Impressive, I'd never of thought that such an improvement could be made overnight.' Ignitus said, as Vance extinguished the flames from around his hands.  
>Vance shrugged in response, he didn't really understand it himself.<br>'Now, let's see if you can complete a final challenge,' Ignitus said, and a horde of dummies suddenly appeared all around Vance.  
>Vance let out a gusty breath, this would tax him. He wasn't even sure he could summon a 'fury' as Spyro had the day before.<p>

'Begin.' Ignitus said.  
>The dummies charged at Vance and attempted to swarm him.<br>Vance cut loose with a pair of fire blasts, before throwing fireballs at the dummies that had hung back.  
>After the debris had cleared, another group of dummies appeared, these ones with padded clubs.<br>_Oh frak._ Thought Vance, before a wild and crazy idea leapt out at him.  
>As the dummies rushed forward, Vance formed a ring of fire around himself, before clenching his fists, imagining the ring turning into a towering wall, which it did.<br>Vance unclenched his fists, and in response the indigo firestorm rushed outward, incinerating the dummies, before dissipating a good three metres beyond them.  
>Vance swayed in exhaustion. He'd never realised that the reason sanctioned psykers were re-caf addicts was because their abilities cost so much energy.<p>

'You know,' began Incandiasa, 'I accept that the purple dragon can get the hang of new abilities easy as breathing, but I'm inclined to resent that you improved so much overnight.' She said.  
>'Yes, I was expecting to be trying to help you master your powers for months to come.' Ignitus said, his grave voice let Vance know that the guardian dragon knew that Vance had neglected to mention something.<br>Vance bit his lip, wondering if the dragon would think him stupid if he told about the vision.  
>'If there's something you wish to say Vance, say it. I'm not going to judge you and it could be important.' the dragon said, almost as if he'd been reading Vance's mind.<br>'I had a dream last night, a nightmare actually.' Began Vance unwillingly.  
>'What sort of nightmare?' Asked Ignitus sharply.<br>'A psyker's nightmare: daemons, hell-scape, scenario designed to terrify, I'd rather forget it.' Vance said.  
>'But?' Prompted the old dragon.<br>'Well, just as this nightmare was about to go from 'terrifying' to 'just let it end', it was replaced by some sort of grey-blue mist, and this weird voice did something and gave me the ability to control my powers.' Vance described.  
>'Did you hear anything, or did anything else happen?' Asked Ignitus.<br>'It mentioned a name, almost to itself: Kaldor, or something like that, as well as a title: 'The Grey Knight.'' Vance replied.

Ignitus nodded gravely.  
>'I've never heard of either of those names, but perhaps I can learn something of them while I look into the whereabouts of the other guardians, for now there's an ape encampment nearby, where I'm certain any apes that escaped the temple yesterday will go to organise a counter-attack, I want you all to go there and destroy it.' Ignitus said.<br>Vance gave the old dragon a casual salute.  
>'Yes sir.' He said, already going to retrieve his weapons, not for the first time wishing he had something more to work with than just a lasgun and a hot-shot.<p>

Of course he'd heard legends about a Catachani being presumed KIA and turning up six months later presenting an ork warlord's head to his commander.  
>He was pretty damn sure that even with psyker powers he wasn't going to be able to come anywhere close to that sort of achievement.<p>

'You mean we've got to work with the psychic time-bomb?' Asked Sparx in alarm.  
>'Can it insect.' Shot Vance back.<br>'Do you have to bring him?' Asked Incandiasa of Spyro.  
>'Are you going to be bringing Vance?' Asked Spyro in reply.<br>'I'm the only one who can carry him, he can't fly himself.' Incandiasa replied.  
>'I'm staying with Spyro, he'd be lost without me.' Sparx said.<br>'I find that incredibly difficult to believe that a dragon capable of potentially threatening an astartes would need the assistance of a talking insect; we'll be outnumbered to begin with, so I recommend stealth, meaning no talking or pithy quotes.' Vance replied.  
>'Hey, be nice.' Spyro said to Vance.<br>'Tell your friend to quit going on about the whole 'dangers of being a psyker' trip then, I don't need reminding of the dangers.' Vance said.  
>'Face it, while you're around there's a chance we'll all become the playthings of things scarier than the apes.' Sparx said.<p>

Vance snapped.  
>'Shut up you tactless little flesh-fly, for Throne's sake shut the frak up!' He roared angrily.<br>With this he stormed out of the hall out onto the balcony on the other side of the training room.  
>'Sparx, that was very tactless.' Spyro admitted.<br>'What? It's the truth.' Sparx said reasonably.  
>'And I'm pretty sure he'd prefer not to be reminded every five seconds, he'd be an outcast in his own world because of his powers, from what he said probably killed without a second thought by a group called the Monodominants; cut him a break, 'cause that's a pretty heavy burden for anyone to have to carry.' Incandiasa told Sparx.<br>'You might want to have a word with him.' Ignitus suggested to his former student.

Vance stopped at the railing around the balcony area and gazed around at the ruined buildings visible further off.  
>He was in a truly bad temper and foul mood.<br>It had been all he could do not to kill the little insect for it's insensitivity.  
>He heard evil sounding whispers in the back of his mind and felt a cold chill.<br>Going down on one knee, he began chanting the Litany Against the Warp under his breath, bringing memories of the memorial statue in Imperial Square back on Eternia to mind, fervently wishing he had a votive candle.  
>The whispers intensified instead of receding.<br>'Vance?' It was Incandiasa.  
>Vance looked around, and oddly the voices were dispelled, as if the mere thought of Incandiasa had scared them worse than devotion to the Emperor.<br>'What are you doing?' She asked.  
>'Praying, believe it or not.' Vance replied. It was the truth after a fashion.<br>'I thought you said you didn't give a damn about the Imperium's faith.' Incandiasa said.  
>'No, I said I didn't like the zealotry the ecclesiarchy encourages, I am, and will always be faithful to the Emperor.' Vance replied with conviction. 'Faith in the Emperor is repellent to chaos.' He explained.<br>'Well look, can you try and at least put up with the dragonfly, I don't like him much either but he is Spyro's friend; we can't very well just ask him to leave.' Incandiasa said reasonably.  
>'If that insect makes one more remark about my being a psyker, and friend to a purple dragon or not, <em>I will kill him.<em>' Vance said flatly.  
>'Fine by me, maybe not so much by Spyro.' Incandiasa said with a shrug. 'But you sure you're okay?' She asked.<br>'Yeah…yeah I'm fine I've just got to deal with this one day at a time.' Vance said wearily.  
>'If you want to talk about it, you've just got to ask.' Incandiasa said.<br>'Thanks.' Vance replied, then picked himself up. 'I guess we'd best ask where this encampment is and get going.' He added, headed back towards the temple.

Incandiasa shook her head.  
>For all Vance said he was fine, she knew he was nowhere near it, and nothing but a return to something he considered to be normality would do anything to heal the wounds of his mind and soul which were so obvious in his manner and bearing.<p>

**Ho-hum, another chapter done…**

**Maybe I should be using this time for more of **_**Brothers in Arms**_**, but I'm still set for the next week, and I'm going to procrastinate with thirty-three until Sunday night, so I've still got plenty of time.**

**And besides, this story is fun to play around with.**

**Anything involving Inquisitors and dragons by default is going to be in my definition.**

**So, thank you once again to Hideout Writer for reviewing.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

An Unexpected Discovery

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Near Ape Encampment, one kilometre out, three days after arrival.

They made decent time to the encampment, but Vance insisted they go the last few kilometres on foot, partly due to the fact Incandiasa had had to carry Spyro as well as him, and partly to avoid being spotted by sentries.  
><em>What sort of dragon doesn't know how to fly?<em> Vance wondered Incredulously casting a sideways glance at Spyro.  
>He shifted his lasgun to a more comfortable grip.<p>

He had his bayonet mag-locked in place and his hot-shot and power-sword ready to be drawn.  
>Vance had also found his laspistol stashed in the bottom of his rucksack when he'd gone through it earlier that day, a lucky find considering he'd thought he'd left it aboard the <em>Deliverance<em>, and had mentally cursed himself when he'd got to the surface for his own stupidity.  
>It seemed forgetfulness was closer to the truth though.<p>

The sidearm was now holstered under his right armpit, and his charge packs were now safely stored in a bandolier he'd rigged from a torn banner he'd found in the temple.  
>Against his blue-grey chest plate it looked downright ridiculous, particularly in combination with the maroon pauldrons and flint dura-cloth.<br>Either way, it worked and Vance really didn't give a damn what anyone thought of his kit, so long as it worked.

Yet again his attention returned to Spyro and Incandiasa.  
>Now that the shock over the fact he was in another universe and the shock of discovering his previously unknown psychic talents had worn off somewhat, he couldn't help but feel humbled by the fact he was in company with the legendary creatures that dominated the mythology of the Messiah Sector, myths the ecclesiarchy had grudgingly learned to tolerate over the eight thousand years the Messiah Sector had been under Imperial rule; in fact, Vance could recall with some amusement three years previously the local priest coming to<em> him<em> of all people for advice on how to mesh the Imperial Creed into the more deeply engrained dragon-myths.

Spyro stood as tall as Vance's shoulder from the top of his head, not including the horns, and Vance hazarded a guess that he weighed about the same as the young dragon.  
>Coupled with all his natural advantages in close-combat, as well as his fire breathing abilities, and Vance was fervently glad that he was an ally, if not necessarily a friend of the purple dragon, and he was doubly pleased that Incandiasa was likewise an ally and not an enemy.<br>The top of his head was level with the dragoness' shoulder, and although she was another two feet shorter than Ignitus, she was a deadly fighter in her own right, more so than Spyro from experience, and hard experience at that.

'Hello?' Asked Sparx, flying backwards in front of Vance's face, 'what next scary-guy?' Asked the dragonfly.  
>Vance stopped and looked around, then slowly lowered himself to the ground.<br>'Okay, so maybe it was a good idea to bring you, now get the hell down, you'll give us away,' Vance said softly, also motioning for Spyro and Incandiasa to lower themselves to the ground and lower their wings.  
>'What's wrong?' Asked Spyro quietly.<br>'A sentry, just up ahead in the shadow of that tree, if your little flying friend hadn't snapped me out of musing I'd have walked right into his line of sight.' Vance explained, shouldering his lasgun and pulling his bayonet knife free. 'Stay here and wait for me, I'll take this guy out quietly , as well as any other sentries that might see us, then come back.' Vance said, already crawling into the underbrush, around to the ape's right.

'I have a name you know,' muttered Sparx sulkily.  
>'After what you said about him, I don't think he gives a damn.' Incandiasa said quietly, 'now quiet.' She added in a hiss, before quieting herself to wait.<p>

* * *

><p>Vance, for all his intensive training prior to deployment on Helhiem really wasn't anything special in terms of a Guardsman, certainly nothing that could be called legendary in terms of skill.<br>But that wasn't to say he _wasn't _skilled either.

Compared to the average imperial civilian, and even some members of other military arms of the Imperium his skills were exceptional, but when compared with an Astartes or a soldier from a death world like Catachan he was about as skilled as a six-year old hive-worlder.  
>Fortunately for him, the apes weren't Astartes, weren't Catachani and most certainly hadn't been instructed by sergeant Norris and the commissariat.<p>

The sentry was zoned out when Vance came up behind him, and didn't even notice when Vance stood in a crouch a mere arm's length behind it. In fact, the first the hapless grunt-troop knew of Vance's existence, was when Vance clamped his hand over it's mouth, then slipped his combat knife into it's neck, before pulling it out through the front of it's neck, severing it's windpipe and jugular, effectively silencing it.

Vance kept hold of the ape until it stopped struggling, then quickly went through it's belt.  
>He didn't find much:<br>Some roasted meat that had gone bad, a tatty water-skin, a few worthless personal items, a bone-hilted flint knife and a small bag of spirit gems, which Vance promptly tucked into his bandolier to give to Incandiasa later.

Thus done stripping the corpse, Vance glanced around the bole of the tree, and saw yet another ape in profile, this one being able to watch a small section of the same area as the sentry he'd just silenced.  
>It also had a view of where Spyro and Incandiasa now crouched hidden.<br>Glancing around the other side of the tree, Vance saw yet another sentry, this one couldn't see the sentry he'd just assassinated, nor anything of relevance, but there was always the risk of it hearing something.

Crouching low again, and watching where he put his feet, Vance crept across the six metres of open ground between him and he left most sentry, and cut it's throat in the same manner as he'd cut the first sentry's throat, before procuring it's store of spirit gems as well.  
><em>One more.<em> Vance thought, lowering himself into the brush once again, before beginning the tedious business of silently crawling to his final victim without making noise, as well as navigating while prone.

Then a buzzing built in the back of his head, a buzzing urging him to stop his cowardly sneaking and kill the occupants of the encampment in glorious combat, then pile their skulls in homage to the blood-god and be counted among His chosen warriors.  
><em>No. I'm already one of His servants, my loyalty is to the Emperor, so Ave Imperator malleusfrakker. <em>Thought Vance, gritting his teeth.  
>The buzzing subsided somewhat as Vance rose from the brush once more, before clapping his hand over the ape's mouth, then sliding the knife between the ape's vertebrae in a well-practiced motion, severing vital nerve-clusters and the beast's windpipe in a pinch.<br>It was dead before Vance slid the knife free.

Wiping the weapon on the ape's fur, Vance sheathed the weapon, before stealing it's store of spirit gems,-once more it possessed nothing else worth looting.  
>Letting the corpse fall to the ground, Vance scurried back to where the two dragons and the dragonfly were waiting.<p>

* * *

><p>'Alright, we've got a hole, follow me, keep quiet, and if we get seen, stay behind me, we'll be able to do more damage if we stick together.' Vance said as he locked his bayonet back into place and rechecked his other weapons.<br>'And why're we following you?' Asked Sparx, crossing his arms and looking down at Vance, a gesture that wasn't lost on Vance.  
>'Because, I'm the one who's got training in infiltration and sabotage.' Said Vance patiently, before starting forward before Sparx could reply.<p>

Incandiasa followed Vance as quietly as she could, which turned out to be rather quiet considering her size and bulk.  
>Spyro followed on as well, following Incandiasa's example in moving slowly, keeping his wings tightly folded and keeping low.<br>Vance glanced back, then made shooing motions to the sides.  
>'Spread out a bit.' He said quietly.<br>He received a pair of confused looks, but the two dragons shifted slightly further apart from Vance.

Five agonising minutes of slow, careful moving forward later, and they came to the edge of a clearing.  
>Vance signalled a halt, reinforcing the hand signal with a quiet word, before crawling forward once again and pulling a pair of magnoculars from a belt pouch, before surveying the camp below.<p>

He watched intently for a full minute, noting numbers, food stockpiles an armoury, and a small stockade which he couldn't see into.  
>Afterward, he lowered the magnoculars, gave them a quick wipe with his sleeve, then raised them to his eyes again to be sure he wasn't seeing things.<p>

By his count, the encampment had as many as fifty apes in it.  
>What surprised him was the presence of humans, equipped like the elite of a feudal world that hadn't mastered gunpowder.<br>Another minute's observation of a pair of the men who were talking near what appeared to be a mess tent revealed a symbol emblazoned on their shields and surcoats which appeared to be universal among them: A purple dragon on a red field.

Vance backed up, before beckoning Vance and Incandiasa over.  
>'New development: I'm not the only human here, and I don't think the ones I just saw are friendly.' Vance said.<br>'How can you tell?' Asked Incandiasa.  
>'For a start, they're working with the apes, secondly the insignia they bear is a purple dragon on a red field, it's not a chaos mark I've ever heard of, but I'd bet my boots that they're some sort of extremist faction from the region of the Imperium I'm from, and the fact they're <em>here<em> also suggests something's up; and I wouldn't be surprised if it was something bad for both our worlds.' Vance added grimly.  
>'So what now?' Asked Spyro.<br>'I'm going to assume they're heretics of some description and administer the Emperor's sanction with lasgun and power-sword, and carry out what we were told to do at the same stroke.' Vance replied.  
>'Now, here's the plan…' He said, beginning to sketch out a diagram with a twig.<p>

**Thank you to Hideout Writer for reviewing.**

**I can't think of how to proceed with **_**Brothers in Arms **_**at the second, but paradoxically, I'm making progress on my original fiction, (not published anywhere) as well as with some other stuff like this.**

**And if you liked it, please review.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX

Re-equipping, Retinue and Executor

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Aboard the_ Aquila Ascendant. _Six months out from Ravenwatch. Armoury.

Sergeant Norris was a tough man to impress.  
>In all truth he was tough period.<br>So when he and his men walked into the _Aquila Ascendant's_ armoury, it came as a complete shock to hear Norris whistle appreciatively, even though roughly three quarters of the equipment in the armoury were of xenos manufacture or were Frankensteined from Imperial and xenos equipment.

A red-robed techpriest who's face had been completely rebuilt using augmetics wheeled around at the sound.  
>'Ah, Sergeant Norris and 4th squad? Vanko's new pet guardsmen, I am techpriest Romanov, and this fur-ball here,-' one of Romanov's mechadendrites indicated an orang-utan like creature knee-high to a grown man with tentacle like fingers bound together by metal rings,- 'Is Dejyyykt, he's a Jokaero weapon-smith, and part of the reason why this ship hasn't fallen apart in hysterics over all the Inquisitor's modifications, so please don't kill or injure him,-or any non-human on this ship for that matter,' added the techpriest, his voice wasn't the flat mechanical vox-caster voice, but a human voice with mechanical inflections.<p>

'Yeah, we're fourth squad, but if the Inquisitor wants someone to be his bitch, he can talk to that Eldar chick in that lounge of his, I am _nobody's_ bitch, least of all an Inquisitors.' Norris said, jabbing a thumb into his chest plate for emphasis.  
>'Au contraire sergeant,' said Romanov coldly, a slight tone of amusement colouring the mechanical inflection of his voice, 'while you're in this armoury, you're <em>my <em>bitch, or you take up life as a servitor.' He said.  
>'The cogboy is right, even if he is a bit slow.' Said Dejyykt, one of his ring-bound digits snaking out to climb onto a bench, then the rest followed suit, and moments after the Jokaero had swarmed up the wall, across the ceiling, and was another second afterward mired in the guts of a Tau battle suit that appeared to be going through an overhaul of some description.<p>

'We're supposed to be working with _that_?' Asked Connors in disgust.  
>A metallic laugh escaped from Romanov.<br>'And worse fiends, now if you will follow me, I can take your measurements for new armour, and just drop your weapons anywhere, I'll see to fixing something with a little more punch and bite after this, and you should have your new equipment by morning.' With this, Romanov stalked towards a bulkhead door set in the left hand wall, which opened with a pneumatic hiss.  
>The guardsmen looked at each other before following.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Dante's Freezer. Unknown time.<span>

The thing that strode through the frozen fortress would've been called a blasphemy by even the most jaded of heretics festering in the strata of the Imperium's make-up.  
>It stood ten feet tall, clad in custom-made power-armour, and appeared to be what it was:<br>An unholy fusion of Astartes and Ogryn.

The creature had been flesh-crafted by a Dark Eldar homunculus for the Cult of the Purple Dragon for the price of a hundred human infants, stolen from maternity wards from across the Messiah Sector.  
>The murderous intensity of it's eyes was testament to which gene-seed had been stolen and implemented in it's creation: the gene-seed of a Flesh Tearer had gone into the unholy creature.<p>

In it's massively armoured hands it carried a heavy bolter the way a normal man would carry a lasgun, and across it's back it carried a custom-made auto cannon, and an Eviscerator at it's side.  
>To any right thinking Imperial citizen the thing would be an abomination.<br>To any servant of chaos for that matter, the thing would be crossing a sacred line: _nothing_ _was half Astartes_.

+Executor.+ The voice was distant, but the creature, Executor paused momentarily.  
>+Yes Master?+ Asked Executor of the voice.<br>+Destroy the crystal, but do not harm the guardian if he carries word of my slave's intentions to any of his fellows should he escape, they will seek to break these crystals themselves.+ Ordered the voice.  
>Executor frowned.<br>Leaving a potential threat living was a foreign concept to him.  
>+Besides, as remote a possibility his escape is, it is amusing to watch the futile attempts at freedom these guardians make.+ The voice added.<br>Executor's confusion passed, he wouldn't deny his master his amusement.

'_Halt.'_ Ordered an echoing voice from a hulking suit of armour tat had just shattered the ice that had kept it frozen.  
>'Stand aside.' Replied Executor bringing his heavy bolter to a ready position.<br>In answer, a battalions worth of other armoured creatures awoke from their frozen stasis.  
>'<em>Turn back, or die by the blades of Dante's chosen.'<em> Said one of the apparitions, that appeared to be riding some sort of long-dead war-beast.  
>In response, Executor opened fire.<p>

And as a direct consequence, the ice that he and the un-dead warriors stood upon cracked, then gave away, sending them all plummeting down into a cavernous pit.  
><em>This is a set back.<em> Executor thought, before angling down towards the wall, drawing a knife the approximate size of an poleaxe blade and stabbing it into the wall, using it to slow his decent.  
>It was still going to be a long way down.<p>

* * *

><p>Aboard the<em> Aquila Ascendant.<em> Six months out from Ravenwatch. Armoury.

Sergeant Norris eyed his new armour appreciatively.  
>It was gun-metal grey, freshly fabricated carapace armour, and the accompanying hot-shot lasgun, as well as the armour itself had been tweaked to perform better by both Romanov and Dejyyykt.<p>

After seeing what the Jokaero had done to Rider's plasma gun, installing extra cooling systems to off-set the overheat problem, narrowing the focus, and increasing the intensity and fire-rate, Norris was more inclined to like the simian-like alien.  
>The upgrade to his shotgun,-giving it an expanded ammo capacity, as well as converting it to be able to take bolter rounds,-had also won the hard-ass sergeant over.<br>'Sir, I don't know about you but when this shit's all over, I think I'll do it again, and maybe again.' Said Jackson, he'd already found that his new melta gun had extra range over his old one, as well as a more powerful blast.

Norris just grunted.  
>No matter who their commander was, they were grunts, front-line troopers to be thrown into one meat-grinder after another for objectives that were to some extent pointless.<br>They were dead men living on borrowed time, the armour and fancy weapons was just a way to take some of the other frakkers with them when they went.

'Now, are there any problems?' Asked Romanov, he'd worked through the night on the seven suits of armour, and as a perfectionist and artist at heart, he was anxious to please each of them.  
>A general chorus of affirmatives met the enquiry.<br>'Very well, now if you will follow me, it's about time you met the rest of Vanko's retinue.' Romanov said, leading them back through the main armoury, and through the right hand bulkhead door.  
>Heads turned as they entered.<br>Norris grimaced slightly.  
>Obviously Vanko was a radical to the bone.<p>

A Kroot sat cleaning an Eviscerator at a low bench, with a solid-shot rifle leaning against the wall.  
>An Eldar with bat wings grafted to it's back was hanging from the ceiling by it's taloned feet, while a Ranger leaned against a wall, talking animatedly with the Scourge.<br>Norris also saw an Astartes scout sitting off in a corner, and by the maroon gauntlets and grey-blue carapace plate he was a Blood Wolf, he was also,-judging by the smell of extraordinarily strong alcohol,- attempting to get drunk.  
>At this table sat another human, this one with the distinctive red bandanna and muscular physique of a Catachani.<p>

'Kjal, how many times do I have to tell you tech-unguent is not for drinking?' Said Romanov crossly, slotting a mechadendrite into a terminal in the wall, and remotely controlling another set of them closer to the marine to confiscate a number of kegs from the table.  
>The marine glared at Romanov.<br>'It's the only stuff strong enough on this damn scrap heap strong enough to stay in my system long enough for me to get drunk cogboy.' Said the marine waspishly, then noticed Norris and his men.  
>'Here, come pull up a seat and be damned with me and Book here.' Called Kjal gesturing magnanimously for them to join him.<br>All the eyes in the armoury were on them now, the two Eldar with suspicious look, the Kroot merely eyeing them with a calculating look in it's avian eyes.

'So, what have you all done to pique Vanko's interest?' Asked Kjal.  
>'We were squad-mated with a latent psyker who's currently AWOL somewhere in another universe.' Explained Spence tersely.<br>'Who're y'all anyway?' Asked the Catachani.  
>'Sergeant Norris, 50th Eternia infantry, the melta gunner's private Steve Jackson, Vox-man's private Barry Connor, Plasma gunner's corporal Darren Rider, privates Fergus Spence, Ivan Farrell, Donald Ghul and Terrence Vladimir.' Norris said, gesturing to each of the men in turn. 'Our MIA kid is private Vance Jenkins, so who're you two?' Asked Norris.<p>

'Major Buck West, but folks just call me Book, 'cause I'm rarely out of the library.' Book replied easily, pulling one called _The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy_ from a pocket in his vest.  
>'Kjal Greylok, Blood Wolves Scout Corps.' Said Kjal proudly. 'Seconded to the retinue of Inquisitor Torias Vanko until the destruction of the Cult of the Purple Dragon and the clarification of their aims.' He added. 'And until I've drunk every last drop of alcohol on the hard-assed bastard's ship, Ha!'<p>

'Part angel, part wolf: all party animal, that's a Blood Wolf for you.' Said the Scourge hanging from the ceiling.  
>Seen from the front like this, it was glaringly obvious the xenos was male, though it had been hard to tell from the back.<br>'Not true Ferackai,' said the ranger, 'the Blood Wolves are the guardians of the Messiah Sector, and the youngest of the Astartes, if anything they take their defining traits from the legends of this sector.'  
>'And who're you?' Asked Farrell suspiciously.<br>The Eldar pulled down the bandanna that had obscured the lower half of it's face, and unconsciously shifted to profile, revealing a feminine figure.  
>'Aranthine, Pathfinder.' She said simply, flicking golden hair out of her violet eyes. 'The Kroot we just call Gull, nobody knows his name, but he's a kleptomaniac, so if you've got something you don't want stolen, I suggest you lock your quarters; him and that Tau sycophant Shas'Watz'Izfa'Shovah.<p>

'Say again?' Asked Jackson in confusion.  
>'We just call him Sykes.' Cut in the Scourge, Ferackai.<br>'Yeah, him and Johnson and Azrial are in the mess hall at the minute, playing poker most likely, and I don't know where Scintilla got to.' Said Book, not looking up from the novel he was reading, obviously used to talking with xenos, something Norris couldn't quite reconcile himself with.  
>'Speaking of, where is it? I don't know the half 'bout most of you lot, but us mere Guardsmen do need food.' Asked Rider, glancing around the faces around the room.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Dante's Freezer, Unknown time.<span>

Executor gazed around the pit in mild irritation.  
>His armour's altimeter indicated he was nearly half a kilometre below the surface, and the sentinels that had barred his way were dead.<br>It would take a lot of time to try and climb out of the pit.

+I might have a problem, my master.+ Said Executor reluctantly. He hated failure.  
>A grim amusement swept through his mind, then he was unconscious, and the pit began to flood.<br>Acting on automatic, Executor's armour sealed, and when the water was deep enough, gyroscopes, and a rudimentary autopilot system engaged small but powerful turbines on the armour, causing Executor to 'swim' for the surface.

+And so you are delayed. My former servant will undoubtedly claim this crystal; and the next one; it will be down to you to prevent her from claiming the last two, and smashing the two she has already brought to this side of my prison.+ Said the voice. +I _will_ be free of this prison, but if your masters fail me, when I reach your races' 'Imperium' I will scourge it from existence.+ Promised the voice.  
>+I would expect no less from the Dark Master.+ Replied Executor obediently.<p>

**That right there throws twists, turns and 180's into the mix that I don't think anyone has ever attempted before.**

**Thanks to Hideout Writer yet again for reviewing.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter X

Haunted

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Ape Encampment. Three days after arrival.

Incandiasa was now quite officially annoyed.

Vance's idea was a dangerous one, and involved causing mayhem over a wide front, a task she was best suited to due to the fact she could fly.  
>The other half of his plan involved a frontal assault on the camp at the height of the confusion, a part that he and Spyro would carry out, while she continued fire-bombing stuff from on high until they got in trouble, in which case she was to take down whoever had them pinned.<br>With another irritated growl, she locked her wings at the zenith of her flight, then dove straight down, levelling off above the mess tent, then setting the canvas afire, before swooping up and away again, already resolving on doing the same to the armoury next.  
>Already the alarm was raised, and humans and apes alike were scrambling about in confusion, looking around for an enemy already beyond reach.<br>Maybe this crazy idea would work after all.

* * *

><p>'That's our cue.' Said Vance, levelling his lasgun at a pair of sentries in a watch-tower.<br>He fired two bursts, neatly catching both sentinels in the second one, before eliminating the second set at ground level with clean, single headshots.

'Now come on,' said Vance already running full pelt through the undergrowth, not bothering to check if Spyro was following.  
>A pair of the mysterious humans had just appeared where the sentinels that Vance had shot were lying.<p>

Firing from the hip, Vance peppered them with lasrounds, scything them down with lucky shots to the legs, heads, and what parts of the torso weren't protected by their shields, which stopped the lasrounds cold.  
>Before heading into the encampment proper, Vance sheathed his bayonet, shouldered the lasgun, scooped up the less las-damaged of the two cultist's shields then drew his laspistol in his left hand, his newly-acquired shield already settled on his left arm.<br>In his right he had the power-sword, although it now filled him with a sense of foreboding just to draw the weapon.  
>Commissar Rigal Chekhov had been very particular about his gear.<p>

_You want to wield my sword?_ Said a ghostly voice in Vance's head which he ignored. _You'd best prove that you're worthy of it traitor-scum.  
><em>Paying no heed to his over-active imagination, Vance advanced into the encampment, alert for enemies.  
>A shiver down his right shoulder made him spin around and lash out with the sword, intercepting the blade of another of the cultists.<br>Vance shield-bashed the blade aside, then shot the cultist in the chest, before stabbing the power-sword into the cultist's chest.

_Seven high!_ Said the ghostly voice, and acting as if on it's own accord, Vance spun about, leading with the power-sword, batting aside an ape's cleaver.  
><em>XENOS SCUM!<em> Roared the ghost-voice, before definitely of it's own accord this time, the sword crackled to life, whipped in a circle over Vance's head, and decapitated the ape.  
>'What…the….frak…' breathed Vance, utterly terrified by this stage; it wasn't the foes he was facing, it was the voice of Commissar Chekhov in his head, and the stolen power-sword taking on a life of it's own.<br>_Now I reclaim my sword and go to the Emperor's side._ Said Rigal's voice again, and the crackling power-sword whipped at Vance, who with a truly terrified yell, whipped around out of the sword's path, and released it, sending it spinning away down a path between tents to fetch up in a chieftain's back.

'Holy shit…' breathed Vance, casting off the now-useless shield and mag-locking his bayonet again.  
>'What was that about?' Spyro had caught up.<br>Vance shot an ape that tried to crash tackle the dragon from behind.  
>'I think my sword might just be haunted.' Vance said grimly.<br>_Your sword isn't haunted private, your _arse _is haunted until I see you dead; you stole my sword, I've already got my hat back, now I'm getting my sword back and your heretic arse along with it._ Said the voice of Commissar Chekhov.  
>Vance shook his head, a mob of apes had rounded a bend, along with several cultists.<br>'Ave imperator!' Shouted Vance, already running full pelt at the mob, lasgun barking and cutting a path into the heart of the mob.  
>The cultists simply put their shields in a position to block Vance's shots, but the apes were dropping, either to dodge the shots, or dropping dead.<p>

When Vance made contact, he made contact with one of the mystery humans, pushing aside his shield with his bayonet, then thrusting the blade home, before withdrawing it, kneeing the cultist over, clubbing a second cultist with the stock of his rifle, blocking, turning aside and stabbing again.  
>Then a pair of apes and another cultist ganged up on Vance, leaving their fellows to flank him.<br>'Frak it,' Vance said, burying the bayonet in the cultist's gut, before kicking one of the apes in the groin.

Tapping his power, Vance blasted the apes and cultists closest to him with fire, before using the ravening infernos issuing from his hands to work his way into the heart of the mob, dimly aware of Spyro beating a pair of cultists down with his horns and tail.  
>'Spyro, get clear!' Shouted Vance, before creating another column of fire around himself.<p>

Dimly, he saw Spyro slam the two cultists one last time, then scramble away, making his way clear of the camp.  
>Vance clenched his fists, feeling the indigo fire breaking away.<br>He held the fire as long as he could, before letting it loose.  
>The blast was more powerful this time, incinerating the tents, equipment, cultists, apes, provisions and paraphernalia within twenty metres of Vance, and causing him to sag with exhaustion.<br>Dimly, he saw that his lasgun, although blackened, was still in one piece, and the bayonet was likewise fine, if soot blackened.

He collapsed onto his back in exhaustion, only for a shadow to loom over him.  
>'<em>Private Vance Jenkins, by the power granted me by the Commissariat in the name of the Emperor of Mankind, I find you wanting in the line of duty, and hereby-'<em> Vance was fully awake now, and rolled away as Rigal's ghost finished it's speech and fired a ghostly bolt from it's weapon at the spot where his head had been a second ago.  
>'You're a figment of my imagination made real by my recently awakened psyker powers, and as such I'm telling you to frak off.' Ordered Vance, sounding braver than he felt, already with warp-fire around his hands again.<p>

Commissars were men to be feared, but Rigal had taken an almost immediate dislike to Vance, and Vance for his part had lived in near mortal terror of the eye-patched commissar.  
>Something about the regulation-buzz cut black hair, forbidding commissar uniform and the seventy-five calibre bolt pistol he wielded like an auto-pistol made it clear that Commissar Rigal Chekhov was not a man to be pissed with.<p>

'Figment of your imagination am I boy?' Growled the commissar's ghost dangerously.  
>Before Vance could move, the bolt pistol had come up, and with a deafening report, the bolt pistol bucked in Rigal's grip, sending the mass-reactive bolt past Vance's head.<br>Vance couldn't help following the round's path, even though he knew it wasn't real.  
>The 'ghost bullet' made contact with the head of an ape pack leader directly behind Vance, and made a very real and very corporeal mess of splattered bone and brain.<br>'Oh, frak.' Said Vance faintly.

'Vance?' It was Spyro, Rigal whipped around and caught sight of the young dragon.  
>Up came the bolt pistol in the same smooth motion-<br>'No!' Bellowed Vance, and crash-tackled Rigal, flaming fists first.  
>The bolt pistol went off again, but the shot went wide, blowing open a cultist's corpse.<br>Vance punched the commissar in the face, already surprised that he'd even crash-tackled the ghost in the first place.  
>The flames didn't seem to affect the commissar, so Vance grabbed the ghost by his lapels, then dashed his head against a rock.<br>Rigal grabbed Vance by the throat, then launched him into the air with ungodly strength, before bringing his bolt pistol around in a two-handed grip, then-

_BLAM!_

The bolt punched through Vance's armour like so much rice paper, punching right through his guts, and exiting through his back, before detonating.  
>Vance roared in, pain, then screamed again as he hit the ground, writhing in agony.<br>Dimly, he heard Spyro calling his name in concern.  
>Then Vance blacked out as the pain became too much.<p>

* * *

><p>Incandiasa came into land on the blast-scape that Vance had left.<p>

_He's powerful, I've never been able to summon a fury, let alone one capable of taking out an entire encampment._ She thought, noting the only structures left standing were the stockade and some of the more solid buildings.  
>The only things left alive were Spyro, Sparx and Vance, who appeared to be in the middle of some sort of hallucination.<br>'Incandiasa, get back, there's some crazy human fighting with Vance!' Warned Spyro in alarm.

'What?' Asked Incandiasa in confusion, she couldn't see any other human but Vance, and he was busy dashing the air against a rock.  
>Then, all of a sudden, he'd been thrown into the air by something unseen, and a deafening shot ran out, and a spray of blood erupted from Vance's stomach, along with another from his back, followed by a miniature explosion.<br>He screamed, then screamed again and fell silent when he hit the ground.  
>Spyro spat a fireball at whatever had dealt Vance the injury, and the fire revealed a human in a robe of some sort.<p>

Incandiasa immediately leapt forward and siezed the human in her jaws, before dashing it into the ground, with a definite _crack!_ of breaking bone.  
>She saw a fire wreathed arm move towards her, and she dashed the human against the ground a second time, and then a third, and fourth time before it finally lay still.<p>

Leaving the unconscious invisible human to burn, Incandiasa bounded to Vance's side, and saw that whatever had injured him had punched clean through him and his armour.  
>She also saw an ape's crystal-pouch in Vance's bandolier, and ripped it open in her jaws, letting the energy charged crystals fall to the dirt.<br>'Come on,' she said, nudging the rubies towards Vance, 'come on, he's injured, isn't that enough?' She said tearfully, of what she wasn't sure.  
>She could hear the shallow rasp of Vance's laboured breathing, and see the spasmodic jerks of his chest rising and falling.<br>'Don't die.' She added in a tearful whisper, nudging Vance's side.

'Incandiasa…' Said Spyro, coming to sit beside her, but he couldn't continue.  
>There was nothing to say.<p>

The rubies, which could heal even the most grievous wounds a dragon could suffer, simply refused to heal the gut-shot Vance had taken from the ethereal being.  
>Incandiasa mewed unhappily, before impulsively taking one of the gems delicately with her teeth, and placing it into Vance's wound.<br>He drew a great shuddering gasp of pain, then the other gems came to life, flocking to the site of the grievous wound like moths to a flame, and a glaring point of ruby light accumulated at the injury site, before it faded, leaving a bare patch of skin visible through the ripped fatigues and broken chest-plate.  
>Vance stirred, rolling sideways with a groan and promptly threw up.<br>'Frak me,' he said shakily, trying to stand, then saw Incandiasa and Spyro looking anxiously at him.  
>'What the hell was that?' Asked Sparx, sounding completely freaked out.<br>A metallic click sounded from behind the two dragons and Vance went very still.

Incandiasa glanced behind herself, and saw what Spyro had been talking about:  
>The human had a bulky weapon similar to Vance's laspistol, only bigger and obviously more dangerous.<br>'That was your death incarnate xenos.' Said the human, he had a red sash around his waist, and was wearing a black great coat.

'Kiss my arse Rigal.' Said Vance, then blasted the commissar,-Vance really didn't know what the hell he was _but _a commissar anymore,- hurling the man through the air, and causing him to drop the bolt pistol.

'Come on, I've got to find my sword before he gets back up,' Said Vance, picking himself up shakily.  
>'Who is he?' Asked Spyro, eyeing where the commissar had fallen, stunned.<br>'Commissar Rigal Chekhov,' said Vance, already setting off towards where he could see the corpse of the chieftain he'd thrown the power-sword at when Rigal's voice had come into his head, then tried to kill him. 'He was the commissar attached to my platoon during the assault on Lucifer Hive, but he was killed by a mortar before we got into the hive proper, when I found his body, someone had already stolen his hat, but I stole his sword, which it appears he's decided to haunt until I die so he can cross to the afterlife with his pride intact.' Vance said, 'at least that's my theory at any rate, but he must be connected to the sword somehow, so I've got to sheath it if I'm to get rid of him for the minute.' Vance said, as he ran over to the chieftain's corpse, before pulling the still-active power-sword out of it's back.

A bolter shell went whistling past his head, and Vance ducked again, before frantically jamming the power-sword into it's sheath, before deactivating the power-field.  
>To Vance's horror, the sword began to draw itself of it's own accord.<br>Vance grabbed the sword again and rammed it home, before holding it in the sheath.  
>'Stay in there.' He growled through gritted teeth.<p>

'Private Jenkins!' Yelled Rigal.  
>'Go frak yourself Rigal, we're not in the Imperium anymore, you're dead, and I'm not going to be on the receiving end of another of your bolter shells.' Shouted Vance in reply.<br>'Then I'll just kill these xenos-freak creatures you've been consorting with.' Replied Rigal.  
>Vance's blood ran cold.<p>

'You've got no quarrel with them, just cross to the Emperor's side and know that your sword was saved from the fires of exterminatus, and continues to smite heretics in the Emperor's name.' Vance called back reasonably, from behind the protective bulk of the chieftain's corpse.  
>The deafening report of Rigal's pistol going off echoed through the ruined encampment, closely followed by a bellow of pain from Incandiasa, and another shot and scream from Spyro a second later.<br>'I'll do my duty to Him first, and kill you and these xenos before I do that, now come out and face your end like a man, and don't cower like a heretic; you were a good soldier Vance, now, do your duty as a faithful servant of the Emperor and die, you're too dangerous to be allowed to live.' Rigal spat.  
>'That's what the ecclesiarchy says, the Emperor himself is a psyker, and I'll show my faith by wiping out the heretics that have come here for their own vile purposes, or had you forgotten those cultists with the shields?' Replied Vance.<br>'The Emperor's wrath will find them in the form of the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition.' Said Rigal dismissively.

Vance wracked his brains, then got a desperate idea.  
>'You want your sword?' Vance asked, standing and drawing the haunted blade as he did.<br>In a surge, he leapt over the chieftain's dead body, and hurled the crackling power-sword end-over-end before it buried itself to the hilt in Rigal's chest.  
>'Take it.' Spat Vance, as Rigal was absorbed back into the sword, which was now embedded point-first in the earth.<br>Running over, Vance yanked the sword out of the ground, deactivated the disruptor field, and rammed the sword into it's sheath.

Then keeping one hand on the hilt to make sure the sword didn't try and draw itself again, Vance looked around, and saw Incandiasa lying on her side, with a gaping wound in her shoulder where Rigal's bolter shell had detonated, the joint between her shoulder and flying arm was visible in the gaping wound.  
>'See to Spyro first…' said Incandiasa, before whimpering in pain.<p>

Vance saw Spyro lying on his belly, one hind leg held out from his side, a hole in his thigh clearly visible.  
>Sparx was hovering by the young dragon's head.<br>'Vance, you've got to do something!' Said Sparx urgently.  
>I know,' Vance replied, yanking one of the gem-pouches from his bandolier, tipping the contents onto the ground beside Spyro. 'See if you can't find anymore of these gem pouches, or these red rubies in general.' Vance said, already clustering the red gems next to Spyro, and watching as they flocked to the wound.<br>As he watched, he saw the muscle knit back together, and veins and arteries reseal, but when the healing was complete, the muscle was still bare to the air.  
>Vance swore quietly, and pulled the final gem pouch from his bandolier, dumping them next to Spyro, before siezing one of the blue spirit gems, hoping it had some knowledge of healing in it, or some knowledge that he could use.<p>

…-_ocus on the distance between you and your target, and imagine see the path your power takes between you and the target as…-_ Vance swore quietly as a wave of vertigo siezed him, and he dropped the spirit gem again.

'Here,' said Sparx, hefting another pouch to Vance, which promptly caught him in the side of the head, snapping him back to the present.

Vance patiently dumped the remaining gems next to Spyro, watched to be sure they did their job, then crossed back to the chieftain's body, before cutting the bulging sack full of crystals from the corpse, and carrying it back to Incandiasa, dumping the crystals in front of her.  
>Closing her eyes, the crystals glowed bright, then flew to her wound, as if attracted by a magnet, before healing the gaping hole until it was just a small cut.<br>Gingerly, Incandiasa stood, before rolling her newly-healed shoulder.  
>Then she leaned forward and nudged Vance affectionately, nearly knocking him over.<br>'Thank you,' she said, conveying her gratitude through the simple statement.  
>Spyro came over to them, with Sparx trailing looking slightly sheepishly.<br>It occurred to Vance then that something had changed between them now.

They'd lived through a mission that had gone down the crapper nearly from the beginning.  
>They'd saved each other's lives at least once each, and even Sparx,- who Vance was still inclined to consider an irritation,- had done his part.<p>

Then his eyes fell once again on the scorched front of the stockade.

'Let's see what they were keeping in that stockade, then I'm going to try and scavenge some new armour;' Vance said, still keeping a firm grip on the hilt of the haunted power-sword. 'Don't know what I'm going to do about painting it though.' He said to himself in an undertone.  
>'Oh yeah Sparx, if you see any twine or string or wire lying around, could you let me know? I really don't want to have to try and keep this sword in it's sheath all the time.' Asked Vance.<br>'Okay,' Sparx said, before flying directly for the ruined armoury.  
>As they got to the stockade, Sparx was back, with a long strand of wire.<br>'Thank you,' Vance said, before unbuckling the sword, then proceeding to thread the wire through the basket hilt, wrap it once around, then tie it to the buckle tight.  
>Vance rebuckled the sword, and was uncomfortably aware every time the sword gave a tug to try and come free.<p>

'How'd that guy end up haunting your sword anyway?' Asked Spyro.  
>At this, the sword gave an extra-vigorous pull against the wire.<br>'I don't know, he was dead when I took it from his dead hand,-which is fair,- it wasn't going to do much good in a dead man's hand.' Admitted Vance defensively. 'I guess his spirit ended up bound to the sword when I got thrown through the warp to here.' He added.

Without further preamble, Vance pried the wooden beam sealing the stockade gates aside, before hauling them wide, stepping back and drawing his soot-blackened lasgun as he did.  
>He'd given it a fresh power-pack and relocked the bayonet as well.<br>It was late in the day, but enough light entered the stockade for Vance to make out the occupant.

It was a dragon, chained down so it couldn't move an inch.  
>It's scales were a sky blue, while it's underbelly was a lustrous grey.<br>'Anyone still alive in here?' Called Vance, holding his lasgun at ease.  
>The dragon turned it's head slightly at the sound of his voice.<br>'Who're you?' It asked, in a thirst-slurred voice.  
>'My name is Vance Jenkins,' Said Vance.<br>'You smell like one of those cultists.' Said the dragon suspiciously.  
>'We killed them all, along with the apes.' Said Incandiasa. 'Also, I vouch for him.' Incandiasa said, starting into the stockade.<br>'Spyro, you stay here, no telling whether this thing's rigged or not.' Vance said, before following Incandiasa.

'Hold still, I might have to shoot these chains to get 'em off.' Vance said, examining the chains for a point of weakness.  
>'No need, my jailer is over there, the keys are at his belt.' Said the dragon, flicking his eyes to a bloodied corpse that was sprawled next to the wall.<br>Vance quickly located the key, and proceeded to unshackle the dragon.

He stood stiffly.  
>'My thanks.' said the dragon tersely, then saw what was left of the encampment. 'You really made a mess.' He said.<br>'Who're you anyway?' Asked Vance, sheathing his bayonet again.  
>'My name is Zephyr.' Replied the dragon, 'where'd you all spring from?'<br>'We came from the temple, Ignitus is there, awaiting our return.' Replied Incandiasa.  
>'I'm afraid I'm going to need a drink before I can manage to fly.' Admitted Zephyr, a fact Vance could agree with, considering how heavily he was leaning against Incandiasa.<p>

He found a barrel, slightly scorched, in the debris of a tent near the stockade and gave it a kick.  
>The sound of liquid sloshing inside was all the confirmation he really needed. Without further preamble, he rolled the barrel over, before upending it.<br>'What do those marks mean?' Asked Vance, indicating a series of symbols on the cask.  
>'Water.' Said Incandiasa simply.<br>Vance nodded, before cracking the top of the cask in with a pack-leader's axe.  
>Zephyr drank gratefully.<br>'Now, let's go, I think we might be able to help each other, in the short term at least.' Zephyr said, already sounding a little less lethargic.

Without further ado, Vance climbed onto Incandiasa's back, followed by Spyro, and Incandiasa and Zephyr jumped aloft, Zephyr's amusement not entirely drowned out by the wind.

**In case anyone is wondering, I'm not going overboard with the OCs.**

**Many of them are just being named for the sake of it, particularly the ones on the 40k side of things, many of whom will probably end up dead.**

**A good many of the OCs I bring in on the Spyro side will not have major rolls either, but will have some function.**

**Thanks again to Hideout Writer for reviewing.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI

Binding

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Temple. Three hours post-encampment assault.

The first Ignitus knew of the return of Spyro, Vance and Incandiasa was the sound of Vance stomping through the temple.  
>Ignitus knew it was Vance by the fact that their was no distinct <em>clack<em> of claws striking the ground with every step he took.  
>He frowned in confusion as he witnessed Vance's first action of submerging his sword,-now with wire wrapped around the hilt and sheath to prevent it from being drawn,- in the pool of visions.<br>'What are you doing?' Asked Ignitus sharply, 'get that sword out of their before you taint the water!' He added, before knocking Vance over, still clutching the sheathed sword.  
>'You wouldn't know anything about exorcism would you by any chance?' Asked Vance, sounding incredibly drained.<br>'No, why?' Asked Ignitus.  
>'My sword is haunted.' Vance replied briefly.<br>'Haunted? More like cursed, that Rigal guy nearly killed you guys single-handed!' Said Sparx, who'd followed Vance in.  
>'What's this?' Asked Ignitus.<br>Vance explained tersely, and presented the gaping hole in his chest plate, along with Spyro's and Incandiasa's accounts of the incident to back them up, before introducing Zephyr.  
>'That is a particularly dire piece of misfortune.' Noted Ignitus.<br>'I know that, and unless I can find a way to either banish the bastard, appease him, or bind him to my will and the blade, this sword isn't safe unless it's trussed up with thrice-blessed silver chains inscribed with passages from the Imperial Creed.' Replied Vance, before tying a length of sturdy vine around the hilt and scabbard like the wire.  
>'Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm for a well-earned night's rest.' He said, before stalking off to a quiet corner of the temple he'd left some of his personal effects in.<p>

* * *

><p>That night while he was asleep, Vance dreamed once more, but this time he made the subconscious decision to call the shots: namely in finding the being that had helped him find his powers.<br>Fortunately for him, the voice was waiting.

+You know, if I were a daemon, you'd be in very deep trouble.+ Said the voice with a touch of amusement.  
>+There seems to be a lot of that going on about now.+ Vance agreed. +So, just answer me this: what exactly are you?+<br>The voice chuckled again.  
>+You catch on quick for a mon'keigh; I am Eldar.+ Said the voice with a note that sounded suspiciously like approval.<br>+I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the Inquisition is involved somehow.+ Vance said. +'Cause no way known would you be taking interest in me otherwise.+  
>+Well reasoned, now what is plaguing you?+ Asked the voice.<br>Vance explained briefly. +That power-sword on it's own is insignificant; its only important to me because it's quite possibly one of the most powerful weapons in this world, and it's rendered too hazardous to use with that son-of-a-bitch Rigal haunting it.  
>+HERETIC!+ Roared a distant voice.<br>+Speak of the daemon…+ muttered Vance, summoning warp-fire to himself.

The voice hummed and harred, for a moment, then went silent, leaving Vance to his own devices, in which time Rigal's ghost showed up.  
>+You'll pay for that little stunt private.+ Said the ghost, drawing it's bolt pistol.<br>+Stand down commissar.+ This new voice was strong and cultured; Vance found himself snapping to attention from the force of command it possessed.  
>+Who're you?+ Asked Rigal threateningly.<br>A figure in deep, dark green carapace armour appeared. He had a little stylised silver "I" around his neck.  
>+Inquisitor Torias Vanko, Ordo Xenos, commissar, and I am ordering you to stand down and go back to haunting that power-sword.+ Vanko said authoritatively.<br>Much to Vance's surprise, the commissar vanished.

+Okay, what the hell is going on here?+ Asked Vance, crossing his arms.  
>Vanko chuckled bitterly.<br>+I've been trying to figure that out for over ten years Private Jenkins.+ Vanko said. +If I tried to tell you everything, you'd be out for the best part of a year, so instead…+ Vanko trailed off, and Vance blacked out.

* * *

><p><span>Temple. Four days after arrival.<span>

When Vance awoke the next morning, he knew exactly what he had to do, and after gathering together a few essential items, went out into the swamp.  
>He had hunting to do.<p>

* * *

><p>'Where've you been?' Asked Spyro when Vance returned, he had another lasgun with him, along with a new chest plate, along with a bowl of a sweet smelling liquid.<br>'Hunting, I've found a way to pacify Rigal; that voice I told you about belongs to an Eldar in league with an Inquisitor.' Vance explained.  
>'Huh?' Asked Spyro, more confused than before.<br>'The voice that helped him master his power told him how to get rid of that Rigal guy.' Incandiasa said dismissively, after swallowing a hunk of flesh from the stag she was eating.  
>'Not 'get rid of,'' Vance said, setting the dish down, and already working on unwrapping the power-sword. 'Binding.' He said.<p>

Before anyone could stop him, he'd drawn the power-sword left-handed, and with his right hand dipped his fingers in the sweet-smelling liquid, then began inscribing sigils on the blade.  
>The sigils flared momentarily, then faded to obsidian black on the sword.<br>As Vance made the final rune, Rigal's spectre appeared.

Vance was talking quickly now,-as the commissar went for his pistol,-in a language neither Spyro nor Incandiasa had ever heard.  
>As Rigal drew his bolt pistol, and put it to the back of Vance's head, Vance switched back to common speech, and whipped around to gaze defiantly at Rigal:<br>'_In servitutem abduco_, I bind thee fast forever in this host!' He bellowed.

A convulsive jerk spasmed through Rigal, and his hand dropped to his side.  
>'Put the gun away, and get the hell back into the sword until I call upon you.' Vance said.<br>'Of course, _master_,' ground out Rigal, making it clear in those three words that if he ever got free of the bonds Vance had just placed on him, Vance might as well just shoot himself in the head to save time.  
>Vance sheathed the sword and sighed heavily.<br>'What just happened?' Asked Incandiasa.  
>'I technically committed heresy against the Imperium.' Vance said.<br>'_Technically?_' Asked Spyro.  
>'Yeah, Rigal was <em>technically<em> a daemon, and I _technically _just bound him into an object, making it _technically _a daemon host, meaning I'm _technically _a heretic; now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and have a bath, I'm feeling rather soiled after that.' He said.

Spyro looked to Incandiasa in confusion.  
>The older dragon just shook her head.<br>'It'd take too long to explain, but suffice to say that so long as Rigal is bound to that sword, he has to do whatever Vance tells him to do.' She said.

**Okay, got bored, my other stories weren't flowing, so I figured I'd turn a problem into an advantage here.**

**Thanks this time for reviewing go to: psykotic addiction, T2238 and Hideout Writer.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter XII

Something in the Water

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Vance found that the sigils binding Rigal to the power-sword wouldn't rub off, and it was only by accident that he found that the sword was now also attuned to his wishes via his control over Rigal, as the sigils faded 'til they were invisible at his thought.  
>'I thought you said that blade was haunted by the ghost of a human who wanted to kill you?' Asked Zephyr, as he and Ignitus entered the room.<br>Suddenly, Rigal erupted from the blade and went for his pistol.  
>'Rigal, no.' Vance said sharply, and the commissar's arm fell to his side.<br>'That problem is well in hand now.' Vance told the two dragons, as Vance sent Rigal back into the sword again.

At Ignitus's insistence, Vance briefly described what he'd done and how he'd achieved it, along with where the knowledge to do so had come from.

'I think it might be wise if you helped me try and contact this 'Inquisitor' via the pool of visions, but for now that must wait, Zephyr has news for us.' Ignitus said.  
>'Indeed,' said the wind dragon gravely, 'Since the capture of the other guardians, I've been searching for where they were being held, and I met with some success in that regard, though I ended up captured when I came looking for Ignitus.' He said, with a self mocking tone at the end.<br>This was met with silence.  
>'So…'Said Vance patiently, 'can we have a little elaboration there?' He asked.<br>'I know where two of the guardians are to be found: Volteer is being held at Dante's Freezer, while Terrador is being held at the Munitions Forge in the Boyzitbig volcano.' Zephyr said with a shrug.  
>'News indeed,' Incandiasa observed. 'So, who do we rescue first?' She asked.<br>'Neither of them, Vance, Incandiasa, I want you two to go to Munitions Forge and free Terrador and get back here, Spyro I want you to go to Dante's Freezer and look around, but if you see Cynder, run you're not ready to face her yet.' Ignitus said.  
>'What about me?' Asked Zephyr.<br>'Do as you see fit Zephyr.' Ignitus replied.  
>'How're we going to get there?' Asked Spyro.<br>'I'm glad you asked.' Ignitus replied with a oddly disturbing smile.  
>'Why're you smiling? I don't like it.' Sparx said as he saw the look the old dragon was giving Spyro.<p>

* * *

><p>'Well, I didn't think it'd be physically possible for him to fly with wings that small,' Vance said, shielding his eyes against the sun as he watched as Spyro flew off.<br>'He'll crash land though.' Said Zephyr dismissively as he fanned his own wings, 'he didn't wait around for Ignitus to tell him how to land.' With that he launched himself skyward, and was gone, heading south.  
>Vance shrugged.<br>'Any sage advice for us Ignitus?' Vance asked as he checked his lasweapons over again.  
>'Munitions Forge will most likely have a good few defence cannons, you might want to land near the limits and work your way in.' Ignitus replied.<br>_It's times like this I wish I was an Astartes._ Vance reflected sourly as Incandiasa spread her wings for Vance to climb onto her back.  
>'And if you see Cynder there-'<br>'Run?' Guessed Vance in reply to what Ignitus had begun to say.  
>'A good idea, but I was going to say <em>don't kill her<em>.' Ignitus replied.  
>Vance frowned at this.<br>'Why not?' He asked.  
>'She's been corrupted, but it isn't as permanent as the corruption you fear so much.' Ignitus said with a knowing look in his eyes.<br>'Stay out of my head.' Vance said sharply, but before he could say anything further, Incandiasa was in the air, heading out to sea.

* * *

><p>The duo landed a good three hours flight later on a black sand beach, bordered by a boiling sea.<br>'I'd like to nominate this place for the 'worst play on words for a name, _ever',_ award.' Vance said as he looked at the giant volcano dribbling molten rock down its sides.  
>'It gets better,' Incandiasa said dryly, 'the local inhabitants of this isle call themselves 'Manweersmalls'.'<br>'I stand corrected,' Vance said, '_that's_ the worst play on words for a name ever.'

Having said this, Vance looked around as he unslung his lasgun.  
>The island was evidently unstable, as evidenced by the molten rock bubbling in pools close to a cliff edge.<br>Incandiasa pointed out five yellow lumps lounging around the beach.  
>Without having to ask, Vance drew his combat knife instead, and crept across the open ground to the ape, then frowned as he noticed something, and beckoned Incandiasa over.<br>'What's wrong?' She asked.  
>'Well, the large pool of blood under this thing for a start,' Vance replied, kicking the ape over, then his eyebrows shot up. 'That's not good.' He said.<br>The ape had bled out from a gaping hole in its back, the approximate size of Vance's fist.  
>'What could've done this?' Asked Incandiasa sounding slightly on edge.<br>'A bolter round if I'm not mistaken.' Vance replied, sounding troubled.  
>He and Incandiasa exchanged a look.<br>They were caught in the middle of something, with no idea just how deep it was, or what it was.

'We'd better find Terrador quickly,' Vance said, then frowned, and drew his power-sword.  
>'Rigal,' Vance said, and immediately the commissar materialised, and stood silently, glaring coldly at Vance. 'I want you to find Spyro. Protect him, lend him your assistance and make sure he doesn't get killed, I've a feeling we're all in over our heads.' Vance ordered.<br>Rigal smirked knowingly.  
>'Oh, you're in over your head alright private, but I'm the only one who knows just how bad.' Said the ghost, then vanished in a swirl of mist.<p>

Incandiasa gave Vance another meaningful look.  
>'He'd just keep tantalising us if I asked him here, to get out of helping Spyro so I'll wait until we get back to the temple; I'm sure Ignitus would be just as interested to hear just what Rigal meant by that.' He replied to the unasked question.<br>With that, they advanced towards a cave mouth, tense and ready for anything.

* * *

><p>Spyro pulled himself out of the ruins of the ice cannon as the spirit gems buzzed around him like a school of startled fish.<br>Then, Rigal appeared near the edge of the cliff he'd scaled to reach the cannon.  
>'Stand down, the Heretic sent me.' Snapped Rigal in irritation.<br>'Why?' Asked Spyro, as the ghost of the gnarled old commissar fell into step beside him.  
>'He's beginning to figure out that this particular war has a few more factions than just you and Cynder's forces.' Rigal replied, slipping a combat knife from a sheath as well as his bolt pistol.<br>'I thought a war was fought between two opposing forces, how many does this one have?' Sparx asked.  
>'Two.' Replied Rigal smugly, 'just the alliances on both sides don't and won't see eye to eye on the subject being fought over.' He said with a cackle.<br>'And what's that?' Asked Spyro.  
>Rigal refused to answer, and the line of questioning was driven from Spyro's mind as things flashed white momentarily as they entered a canyon.<br>'What was that?' Asked Sparx, 'do you think it was Cynder?' He added the second with palpable anxiety.  
>'I certainly hope so,' Spyro replied.<br>'What?' Sparx asked incredulously.  
>'Well if it's not, it means there's more than one giant evil dragon flying around.' Replied Spyro.<br>'The more the merrier,' said Rigal, twirling his eighteen inch combat knife in his right hand, then looked up.  
>'What's that past yonder stockade?' He asked, gesturing to a indistinct mass over near the opposite cliff face.<br>Spyro looked where the commissar was pointing, but couldn't make out any details.  
>'I don't know, but they don't seem to like it,' observed Spyro, indicating an undead ogre, followed by six smaller ones.<p>

Rigal brought up his pistol and took aim.  
>'No, let's see what happens,' suggested Spyro.<br>Rigal lowered his pistol again, and observed dispassionately, as first barrels of dynamite ploughed into the undead warriors, then they were cut down by a merciless tirade of lasfire.  
>Rigal just watched impassively.<br>'It must be more of that cult we encountered yesterday.' Spyro said.  
>Rigal nodded, then spat to the side in disgust.<br>'At least the private didn't forswear the Emperor, these scum are heretics through and through.' He said, and stalked towards the camouflaged pill-box with an air of deadly purpose.  
>Spyro followed the ghost a short way, then saw a blockade up ahead:<br>Another ice cannon, with a chieftain patrolling, as well as two teams of apes with a stockpile of dynamite which they were rolling down the slope.  
>Directly opposite them was a catapult, similar to ones Spyro had already seen, and put to good use.<br>And there in the stockade was a ice bound tree.  
>'C'mon Sparx,' Spyro said, already heading for the stockade.<p>

**I guess here will do to leave this.**

**Weren't expecting that I'm sure.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favourited and alerted over my extended absence.**

**'til next time:**

**No One-Liners!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII

A Meeting of Minds

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Dragon Temple

Ignitus stared intently into the depths of the pool of visions.  
>The assistance Vance had received relating to first his burgeoning powers,-which Ignitus felt certain were going to continue to develop with use,- then the assistance regarding the ghost haunting his sword had aroused Ignitus's interest, as well as word of the other humans present in the dragon realms.<p>

* * *

><p>Aboard the <em>Aquila Ascendant<em>

Eldrad Ulthuan was perhaps the most powerful psyker in the galaxy, and certainly one of the oldest.  
>Oh, he might be younger than the Emperor of Mankind by thirty thousand years, but he <em>was<em> older than the Imperium.  
>And at present he was gazing curiously through the unusually calm warp, and seeing a red dragon staring intently back.<p>

+Inquisitor, you might wish to activate that holo-projector of yours and hook me into it; one of the dragons the psyker is keeping company with is looking for us.+ Eldrad said.  
>Eldrad kept staring intently back at the dragon as Vanko frantically set up the holo-table, unceremoniously jamming cords into sockets, before jamming them into a custom-made cradle, which Eldrad duly stood in.<br>The sudden amplification of power would've burst another psyker like a melon hit by an autocannon shell, but Eldrad took it in his stride, and used the feedback to create a connection between the scrying pool the dragon was staring into and the holo-projector.

* * *

><p>Ignitus reared back in surprise as the pool of visions winked blue, then several figures,-two vaguely similar to Vance, and one of entirely different origin,- rose as translucent spectres of light from the glowing pool.<br>'Greetings.' Said the shortest of the three, the one who was wearing armour. 'Eldrad informs me that you were seeking to speak with us in regards to a matter he informs me is of mutual interest; a certain psyker known as Vance Jenkins.'  
>'What of him?' Asked Ignitus suspiciously.<br>'My associate here, Eldrad Ulthuan, believes that Private Jenkins may be instrumental in stopping a daemon of your world manifesting in ours.' He said.  
>'And this is of what interest of yours? And who are you?' Asked Ignitus.<br>'I am Inquisitor Torias Vanko of the Ordo Xenos, as for what interest Jenkins' stopping the daemon is to me, I'd rather not have to consign a hundred worlds to the fires of exterminatus as a result of this daemon's antics; nor have to take down the members of the Cult of the Purple Dragon after having been 'rewarded' for their assistance in it's breaking free.' Vanko replied. 'Now, who might you be?'

Ignitus was too stunned for a moment to speak.  
>Vanko's revelations put a lot of things into focus.<br>The humans in the dragon realms,-aside from Vance,- were there to somehow break Malefor free so he could escape through to Vance's world for whatever reason.

'I am Ignitus, Guardian of fire, and it is no 'daemon' that this Cult plans to free, but an evil dragon of immense power.' Ignitus replied.  
>Now another voice spoke, an ethereal voice that didn't have an identifiable source.<br>+One way or the other this daemon-dragon, this 'Malefor', _will_ escape; it is only _where _it will escape to that matters now.+ Said the voice.  
>'And I take that to mean that it would be better if this creature escaped in the dragon realms?' Asked Vanko.<br>'Now, see here-' began Ignitus in outrage, then the statuesque figure raised a hand.  
>+Peace.+ Said the statue. +The means to destroy this creature exists in your world, in ours it would become powerful enough to subjugate not only your world, but everything in our universe, releasing the daemon in your universe is the lesser of two evils, and it might even be possible to stop it being unleashed in the first place.+<p>

Ignitus was silent.  
>'You've made much clear to me.' He said at length.<br>Vanko went to speak, but a tone sounded, followed by another voice.  
>'Inquisitor, the Navigator informs us we're about to drop out of the warp, the currents are unusually calm for some reason and he's managed to bring us through ahead of schedule.' Said the voice.<p>

'What would you care to wager,' asked the third figure,-the one who hadn't spoken,-in rich feminine tones, 'that we just entered these…'dragon realms?''  
>'Nothing I wouldn't care to be parted with.' Replied Vanko, 'if Farseer Iriannel is correct it may be that we may be meeting face to face shortly.' He said as an aside to Ignitus.<br>'Eldrad, come on, I have a feeling we'll be needed on the bridge.' Vanko said a moment later, heading from whatever room they were occupying, followed by the tall woman.

The statue waited 'til the others had left, and Ignitus realised that the Statue must've been Eldrad Ulthuan.  
>+Feel free to tell Vance of this conversation, but keep what was said of Malefor quiet, it would not be wise to pressure him; the stress might very well make him lose control of his power, and if that happens, it could doom your world.+ Warned Eldrad, and having said this, the pool of visions faded once again to it's placid swirling.<p>

**Yeah, here I am again, and I'm rather surprised at how popular this story is proving.**

**Thanks and Acknowledgements this time go to:**

**For Favouriting: Sgt. Nolisten and Shadowbane509.**

**For Story Alerting: Shadowbane509.**

**For Reviewing: Hideout Writer and THE RFA.**

**'til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV

Fire and Ice

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Munitions Forge

'You know,' said Vance, after he and Incandiasa had been walking a while, through the eerily quiet volcanic wasteland, encountering nothing but executed apes.  
>'Do I know what?' Asked Incandiasa, for no other reason than the silence was grating on her.<br>Vance was quiet a bit longer, obviously thinking.

'Well?' Asked Incandiasa patiently.  
>'I'm beginning to think it might've just been quicker to fly to the summit, every ape we've encountered so far has been dead; shot by one of the most ubiquitous weapons of war in the Imperium's arsenal,-a weapon most often wielded by the Adeptus Astartes, and followed closely by agents of the Inquisition, Adepta Sororitas and Imperial Stormtroopers.' Vance said.<br>'So…what?' Asked Incandiasa, 'we should fly to the summit as quickly as possible to avoid being killed?'  
>'That's a good idea actually,' Vance conceded, 'but I was going to say this feels more like the work of a rogue Imperial military unit than a bunch of cultists.' He said.<p>

Incandiasa went to reply, then stopped and sniffed the air.  
>Vance drew his laspistol and power-sword.<br>'What do you smell?' Asked Vance.  
>'Alright you, out of there, my friend here gets rather twitchy about people lurking in cover.' Incandiasa growled sternly.<br>Vance lowered the weapons as a two-foot tall creature edged hesitantly from behind a cluster of rocks.  
>Vance shot a questioning look at Incandiasa.<br>'A Manweersmall?' She said. '_You_ took out all these guys?'  
>'Not I,' said the Manweersmall in a thick accent, 'you don't smell like Cynder's beasts…or those other things so I suppose you must be a friend, but what about the other one? He smells a lot like the ones who wiped out these beasts.'<br>'Same race. Different faction. _Wildly_ differing religious values;' replied Vance dismissively. 'So, who are you and just what happened here?'  
>'I am Mole-yair, leader of the Manweersmalls, though how much of a leader I am is debateable right now.' Mole-yair replied. 'Many of my people have been captured, and forced to mine for Cynder's armies. Which have been reduced significantly since those others came through; they killed the apes with some strange magic of theirs, made them explode by what I heard, but I overheard one of them say afterward that they were heading for the volcano.' He explained.<br>Vance put the pieces together in his head, and came up with one crucial question.  
>'There wouldn't happen to be a dragon imprisoned in the volcano, would there?' He asked.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Dante's Freezer<span>

Spyro was beginning to see why Vance had been apprehensive with Rigal.  
>The man positively delighted in bloody slaughter, and charged headlong into fights with foes many times his size with little more than his pistol,-which Spyro had to admit was capable of pulling Rigal through said brawls,- and his combat knife.<br>At one point, Spyro had been hit by a lightning bolt from a tower-mounted structure which appeared to have been made for the purpose.  
>When said bolt awakened the ability to channel electricity in the same way as his fire, it had only been Vance's orders that had kept Rigal from attacking Spyro.<br>Now they'd reached a large, barred door in the side of a castle, and having dispatched a watch of apes, along with another group of what Rigal called: 'skulking, cowardly, heretical, sons of bitches.'  
>Spyro attempted to bludgeon the door open with his horns.<p>

'Maybe we should try over there genius,' suggested Sparx, indicating a small cave in a snow pack by the edge of a stand of pines.  
>Rigal grunted in approval.<br>As Sparx entered the cave, then called the all clear back to Spyro, he noticed something.  
>'Hey, check this out, echo-cho-o-o-o…'<br>'Why don't you just go down the tunnel and _tell _whatever's down there we're coming?' Asked Rigal scathingly as he followed Spyro into the tunnel.

* * *

><p><span>Munition's Forge<span>

Vance exited the tunnel with no small relief.  
>It had felt like he was standing in the barrel of a melta gun shortly after said weapon had fired for the whole time he'd been clearing the tunnels, freeing the Manweersmalls still mining at the request of Mole-yair.<p>

'There,' Vance said panting, 'that's the last of them, now where is this dragon being held?'  
>'Your mighty dragon is being held at the top of the volcano, past the labour camp where my brother Exhumer labours.' the Manweersmall leader replied.<br>'We'll bust that place up on our way.' Promised Incandiasa hurriedly, already fanning her wings.  
>'A word of warning,' Mole-yair said, 'be careful of the Conductor and his maniacal train, Steam.'<br>'Duly noted, and we'll blow 'em up if they're dumb enough to get in our way.' Assured Vance, vaulting onto Incandiasa's back.

* * *

><p><span>Dante's Freezer, Ice King's hall<span>

Executor awoke sluggishly, and found himself floating in ice water, with his armour's built-in thrusters working overtime to keep him near the surface.  
>With a massive stroke of his tree-trunk sized hands, the Ogryn hybrid propelled himself towards the nearest available piece of solid land,-an island of ice in what appeared to be a large cavern.<br>He'd reached his destination after all, but evidently the slave had claimed this crystal.

With a massive heave, Executor crawled onto the ice island, water sheeting from his armour as he did.  
>Casually drawing his heavy bolter, Executor looked around, and found himself looking at the titanic figure of another of the skeleton-warriors that had barred his way.<p>

The colossus was sitting entombed in ice upon a throne.  
>Executor paid the thing no mind, and leapt across to the dais the throne was upon, careful not to crush the unconscious guardian at the foot of the throne.<br>It would not do to annoy the Dark Master by denying him his amusement.

Then Executor saw it.  
>The tiniest flicker of movement, then the tinkle of shattering ice as the creature stood.<br>Executor attempted to force it back onto it's throne, and for his trouble the Ice King picked up Executor as he'd pick up a normal man, before hurling Executor,-his whole three tonnes of body mass, armour and weaponry, back onto the ice-island, before jumping forward itself.  
>Executor picked himself up and drew his eviscerator, before thumbing the activator, bringing it's blades to screaming life, even as the Ice King armed itself with a shield and sword composed of ice.<p>

The two antagonists squared off.  
>Then in a blur of motion Executor pounced, and furiously whirring steel met enchanted ice.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Dante's Freezer, Ice Tunnel<span>

'Okay, my turn: Helloooo…' Shouted Spyro, and extended a wing to better appreciate the acoustics.  
>He'd been walking a while, and they hadn't reached the end of the tunnel yet, so what was the harm?<br>Then as the echo died away, the trio came around a corner and found themselves facing a pack of waiting apes.

'Hello.' Said one of them nastily, causing the others to cackle.  
>'Who's the genius now, echo-man?' Asked Spyro in annoyance, before ramming the ape who'd said 'hello' in the chest with his horns, goring it, and sending it sliding across the icy floor into the opposite wall with the <em>crack<em> of breaking bone.

After that, it was all movement:  
>Spyro knocking apes skywards before slamming them into their comrades, flaming apes, Rigal providing more examples of why Vance feared him in the form of his skill with the eighteen-inch knife and his ability to kill with his hands and feet, with a chilling lack of mercy and savage grin.<p>

As Spyro gathered more of the gems to him in the aftermath, he got a brief sense, before he whirled and opened his mouth again.  
>This time a blast of frozen air caught the ape head on, freezing it in place.<br>Rigal stalked over with all the implacability of death itself and drove his knife into the ape's head, before ripping it out sideways.

Then the commissar stopped and cocked his head to the side listening.  
>'Hear that?' he asked quietly, slipping his pistol from it's holster.<br>Spyro stopped and listened. From up ahead was coming the sound of something screaming non-stop.  
>'That's an eviscerator, or I'm a white-shield.' Declared Rigal, already running ahead, not being hampered by the slippery ground by dint of being a ghost.<p>

'What was that back there?' Asked Sparx, 'first electricity, now _ice_?' asked the dragonfly.  
>'I've got as much clue as you do Sparx, but…' Spyro shrugged. 'Purple dragon, remember?'<br>'You're getting stranger by the minute buddy.' Sparx replied, shaking his head in mock despair.

Spyro skidded to a stop, and very nearly ran straight through Rigal, who was staring at the two titanic creatures locked in combat below.  
>'Black heresy…' said the commissar stupidly, but somehow he couldn't raise his gun.<br>'Yeah, I think it might be better if we sit this one out.' Sparx said, motioning to the side.  
>Spyro followed Sparx's example, backing around the corner, out of sight of the icy island below, and the two giants straining against one another.<p>

* * *

><p>Executor twisted his giant chain-blade and opened the Ice King's guard wide, an opening Executor exploited, laying a shattering kick into the undead thing's left leg, before bringing the chain-weapon around to grind into its opposite side.<br>In reply, the Ice King swung a vicious uppercut into Executor's chest, lifting him bodily again, and throwing him back to the edge of the ice-island.  
>But the brute was crippled from Executor's kick, an opportunity Executor exploited after regaining his feet, running as fast as he could on the slippery ice to the dais, before charging through a door,-literally,- and making his escape.<p>

He had to get to the mountain plains before the slave could claim another crystal, or the volcano.  
>Yes, the volcano was the safer bet.<p>

* * *

><p>'Black heresy…' repeated Rigal, almost to himself as he stared after where the <em>abomination<em> had gone.  
>'There's Volteer,' Spyro said, spying the yellow and dark-blue dragon lying gagged and semi-conscious at the foot of a throne.<br>'Ah yeah, and there is the mother-of-all undead ice-cubes in the way.' Said Sparx, indicating,-quite unnecessarily,- the crippled but still active Ice King.  
>'Rigal, come on.' Spyro said, nudging the zoned out ghost.<br>'Black heresy…only humans become Astartes…' Mumbled Rigal.  
>With an exasperated sigh, Spyro dived from the ledge onto the ice island.<br>'I guess I'll just have to melt you myself.' He said, before spitting a fireball at the Ice King as it staggered towards him.

* * *

><p><span>Munition's Forge, Boyzitbig labour camp<span>

'Thank us some other time.' Vance said to the Manweersmall before him, Exhumer. 'We're finally ahead of whatever has been offing the apes, and we'd like to keep it that way.'  
>'Aye, we have other places to be as well, the volcano may not be about to blow yet, but below ground is much safer. Exhumer agreed.<br>As Vance and Incandiasa flew out of the camp, Vance couldn't help but feel immensely pleased.

The apes in the work camp had been alive, tough and a stiff fight, but also evidenced that their mystery competition had not yet reached the entrance to the volcano proper.  
>'Nearly there.' Commented Incandiasa.<p>

Vance drew his laspistol and slapped in a fresh charge-pack.  
>As Incandiasa crested the rim of the volcano, she immediately back-winged.<p>

'I take it that's Steam and the Conductor.' Vance said as he saw the monstrosity of black iron and the ape on the back.  
>'I guess so.' Said Incandiasa.<br>'It's on rails, so it can't be that difficult.' Vance replied.  
>'Plan?'<br>'You grab the caboose and try and shake the train until it derails, I'll keep the Conductor off you.' Vance replied.

With that, Incandiasa dove straight at the monstrosity-of-a-train and latched onto the caboose.  
>'Hey!' Shouted the ape on the train proper, which was wearing a dirty blue bandanna and a top hat and held a long handled spade like a badge of office. 'Get off my train!'<br>'I'll give you this one chance,' Vance called back, 'let the dragon go, and I won't have to kill you.'  
>'what do you take me for?' Shot the Conductor back.<br>Before Vance could reply, he spied the door s to the caboose opening, and a pair of pack leaders leaning out.  
>Leaning as far out as he dared from Incandiasa's back as the train whipped around the circled-cross track, Vance swung the crackling power-sword at the ape's wrist, cutting it clean through.<br>Not stopping to see the ape fall, Vance leaned out the other way and cut the other pack leader's wrist through.

When he whipped back around, he saw the Conductor locked in a battle with Incandiasa, trying to wrestle his shovel from out of her jaws.  
>'Oi!' Vance shouted, causing the Conductor to glance at Vance.<br>Without further ado, Vance raised his right hand, fingers extended, and a bolt of plasma-blue lightning connected him and the Conductor.  
>With a contemptuous flick of his wrist, Vance sent the ape sailing off the summit of the mountain.<br>'Nice.' Vance said, grinning like an idiot as lightning continued to crackle between his fingers.  
>'Yes, lovely, but this thing isn't rocking.' Incandiasa called back to Vance, giving the caboose a titanic heave for emphases.<br>'Doesn't matter now anyway.' Vance said. 'Pull out, I've got an idea.'

Incandiasa looked doubtfully back at Vance, but released her grip on the caboose.  
>Just in time, as the monstrous-parody-of-a-train retreated into a gate in the side of the volcano on it's next round on the track.<br>'Now what, genius?' Asked Incandiasa.  
>'That'd be Terrador, right?' Asked Vance, motioning to a green and brown dragon, suspended in a black metal cage by a glowing emerald.<br>'Yeah, but I'm not going near that crystal, it'll sap my power.' Incandiasa said.  
>'You don't have to; just drop me in that palisade, and I'll do the rest.' Assured Vance.<br>Incandiasa gave Vance another doubtful look, but complied.

Vance landed in a crouch, before unsheathing his sword and activating the disruptor field.  
>With a deft cut, Vance severed the rings of black steel that Terrador was imprisoned in at one end, before severing them at their opposite side.<br>Still, the great dragon didn't wake, and the crystal kept the cage suspended and intact.  
><em>Screw it. <em>Vance thought, before swinging his sword at the crystal.

As the blade connected Vance felt a shockwave of energy explode through him, before he was thrown bodily against the palisade by the psychic feedback.  
>Gritting his teeth, Vance stood, before he took a braced position, turned on the gates, then slammed his fists into the ground.<br>In direct response, the ground heaved, and split open, and a huge amalgamation of molten rock in the shape of a gigantic wolf burst from the ground, and charged through the palisade, leaving it a twisted and broken mess, before ripping up the train tracks, then diving back into the mountaintop on the other side of the summit.

'Okay…' Vance said. 'That still doesn't open this damn cage.'  
>+Oh, for the love of the Emperor.+ Said a voice in Vance's head, it wasn't Eldrad, Vanko, Rigal or a daemon however. +Touch the crystal, but do not break it.+ Ordered the voice.<br>With a start, Vance realised he'd encountered this being before.  
>+You're Kaldor, right?+ Asked Vance.<br>+Yes. I am, now touch the crystal.+ Ordered Kaldor impatiently.

Without further ado, Vance strode forward and laid his hand on the glowing crystal.  
>The shockwave returned, but this time it exploded out from the cage.<br>Vance had to scramble clear so as to avoid being crushed by the falling pieces of the cage.  
>As Vance watched, he saw the dragon stir as Incandiasa landed beside him.<p>

'Nice work.' She said approvingly. 'You even took out those cultists with that shockwave before.'  
>Before Vance could reply, the dragon stood groggily.<p>

'Are you alright?' Asked Incandiasa in concern.  
>'I'll survive.' Assured Terrador. 'Incandiasa isn't it? Ignitus's student.' He asked.<br>'Yeah, that's me.' Incandiasa said, sounding rather coy to Vance, which surprised him, as it didn't match what little he knew of her character.  
>'And who's this? And more importantly, what is an ape doing working with you?' Terrador asked eyeing Vance suspiciously.<br>'From another universe, where my kind allegedly evolved from creatures like those things.' Vance replied.  
>Terrador grunted in response.<br>'Let's get out of here.' He said, fanning his huge wings.  
>'What about the crystal?' Vance asked.<br>'Ah yes,' Terrador said, rearing up on his hind legs.

+_NO!_+ The voice of Kaldor was so loud and forceful in Vance's head that he collapsed.  
>Evidently Terrador and Incandiasa had heard it too, because Incandiasa was glancing around in alarm, and Terrador had hesitated.<br>+If you break that, dragon you consign your kind, my kind and every other civilised being in both our universes to the fire or to eternity as the slave of evil.+ Kaldor warned ominously.  
>'I guess that makes it clear,' Vance said, 'we take the crystal with us, if only to learn what we can about it.'<br>'Then you must carry it.' Terrador said, 'it sapped my strength, and it would do the same to Incandiasa; your power and very nature keeps its power in check.'  
>With a heave, Vance lifted the crystal, before rigging a carry strap from his bandolier, before climbing awkwardly onto Incandiasa's back.<br>'Now let's get out of here.' He said.

**Yes, you read the above chapter correctly:**

**I have just derailed the entire plot of the first LoS game.**

**Now, for reviewing, I'd like to thank Hideout Writer.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter XV

A Wrench in the Works

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Dragon Temple, Three hours post freeing Terrador

'Dé jà Vu.' Vance said cheerily.

He'd secured the energy-sapping emerald in his rucksack, and was walking down one of the halls in the temple with Terrador and Incandiasa towards the temple's pool of visions, where Vance could hear Ignitus talking, sounding rather exasperated.  
>Then he heard another voice that sounded as if the owner had had <em>way<em> to much re-caf that morning.  
>As he went to push the door open, Incandiasa pushed the door open instead.<p>

'We're back,' Incandiasa announced.  
>'And scratch an island's worth of bad guys.' Vance added. 'And Ignitus, you might like to take a look at this thrice-damned rock I've had to lug back here.' So saying, he dumped the crystal off to the side.<br>Then he turned to face the dark blue and yellow dragon which was eyeing him with intense interest.  
>Vance got the feeling this one was either a nervous wreck, or really twitchy.<br>'This is the one you said came from another world Ignitus?' Asked the yellow dragon.  
>'Yes, and he and Incandiasa have excelled themselves this time, with one of these crystals in our possession, we could potentially reverse what Cynder is hoping to do.' Ignitus replied.<br>'No sweat, but I think that this Cult and the Dark Armies might be at cross-purposes, a good two thirds of the apes Incandiasa and I encountered had been executed with bolt-weapons; and only elite imperial units use those things.'

'Speaking of which,' Ignitus said, 'Rigal arrived back here with Spyro and Volteer, but he's been babbling about 'half-breeds', 'abominations' and 'blackest heresy' for the entire time.  
>'I think you've got some things to explain Ignitus.' Terrador said levelly, giving the fire guardian a level look.<br>'Well you don't need me; I'm going to catch some shut-eye, I'll deal with Rigal when I wake up.' Vance said, yawning wide.

* * *

><p><em><span>Aquila Ascendant, <span>_three minutes post-warptranslation

'Damn.' Vanko said.  
>'An understatement I think, we're here five months ahead of schedule, and the Cult of the Purple Dragon is still at least six months away.' Iriannel agreed.<br>'Scans report that the warp is unnaturally calm hear m'lady.' The Shipmaster reported.  
>+How fortunate.+ Eldrad said. +Inquisitor, I believe that it would be prudent if we sent Private Jenkins some assistance, at this stage in proceedings, his presence changes things, and his survival is no longer an easy thing to keep track of.+<br>'Are you suggesting we put some boots on the line in this dragon-realm?' Vanko asked.  
>+Indeed.+ Eldrad replied. +I'll leave who those boots belong to up to you though, and begin preparing a webway path.+ With that, Eldrad and Iriannel walked from the bridge in tandem.<p>

'Put us in orbit Shipmaster, and get Norris and his men to the armoury, along with Major West and Aranthine.' Vanko ordered, before stalking from the bridge himself.

* * *

><p><span>Dragon Temple, Five days post arrival<span>

When he woke up however, he jerked awake with a knife at the ready and a startled yell, when he found himself the object of intense scrutiny from Volteer.  
>'Oh, my apologies, did I startle you?' Asked Volteer, backing up a couple of steps and trying to look contrite unsuccessfully. There was too distinct a gleam of enthusiasm and curiosity in his eyes.<br>'Yes. Don't do that again, you just scared a couple of decades off of me.' Vance said, putting his hand across his heart in a vain attempt to stop it hammering against his ribs in so audible a way, before sheathing his knife.  
>'Again, my apologies, but Incandiasa mentioned last night you can throw electricity, and that your principal weapons are powered by it; I would consider it a personal favour if you would care to give me a demonstration.' Volteer replied.<p>

Vance thought about it for a second.  
>'Okay, sure, but in return I want to learn how to wield these electric abilities.' Vance replied.<br>'Naturally, naturally,' Volteer replied, 'I'll be in the dojo when you're ready.' He added, already turning to leave.  
>Shaking his head in wonder, Vance went about cooking himself breakfast, which consisted of searing several bits of meat Incandiasa gave him until they were edible.<p>

It was rather bland, and he'd had better aboard the _Deliverance,_-which was saying something, because Vance had previously held the food on said ship to be the worst he'd ever had,- but it was nourishment, and there wasn't any chance of better so it was no use complaining.  
>After washing this down with a canteen full of water, Vance pulled together his things, then summoned Rigal again.<p>

To Vance, the ghost looked haunted by some memory.  
>'Alright, what happened to make you lose the cold hatred yesterday?' Asked Vance tiredly.<br>'The blackest heresy, it makes your transgressions look minor,-it was a creature that appeared to be an Ogryn in power-armour, but vastly more intelligent and coordinated, and I could sense the psychic rage of a Blood Angel descendant; it was a half-Astartes, with an abhuman base.' Rigal replied.  
>Vance felt his blood run cold.<br>'That's not possible, biologically, and a whole heap of other ways, blasphemy not least among them.'  
>'The race is on for the third crystal, and then to make or prevent the making of the fourth,' Rigal added seriously. 'Guard yourself well private, or you and your Xenos pals are royally screwed.' So saying, Rigal vanished again.<p>

'We're in deep trouble aren't we?' Asked Incandiasa, who'd been listening while she ate.  
>'We're pretty much screwed.' Vance told her frankly.<br>'It can't be that bad, surely?'  
>'Famous last words, and I didn't hear them.' Vance said grimly.<p>

Incandiasa snorted. She had a feeling Vance was extremely worried by what Rigal had just told him.  
>'Look, Ignitus is working on locating Cyril, we've freed Terrador and Volteer, your powers are growing, and we're in possession of one of these crystals, I'd say things are looking good.' Incandiasa pointed out.<br>'It's not that-' A series of wild calls cut Vance off, and five apes leapt from the ceiling.

One of them took advantage of the moment of surprise, and lunged at Vance, only to end up copping a flaming fist in the mouth.  
>'We've got company!' Shouted Vance, breaking a second aggressor's neck, before shooting a third in the chest, then pistol-whipping the fourth before stabbing it in the head.<p>

With this momentary relief, Vance pulled the rest of his gear to order, before he and Incandiasa bolted into the room with the pool of visions, in time to see Ignitus kill another four apes with a blast of fire.  
>'This is dire, Vance grab the crystal, we must leave.' Said the fire guardian, as Terrador came barrelling into the room, from the dojo, closely followed by Spyro, who Terrador had been teaching how to use the powers of earth.<br>'Apes, they must've come for the crystal.' The earth guardian said.  
>'Well they're going through me to get it.' Vance replied, pulling his rucksack on over his hot-shot's power pack.<p>

Volteer came bounding back in as well.  
>'Cynder is coming as well.' He said in alarm.<br>Vance bit his lip as he saw the dragons stiffen.  
>'We must flee.' Ignitus said. 'To the city of Warfang, not even Cynder is powerful enough to attack the city head on.'<br>'With her army in tow, we'd never make it, there're just too many of them.' Terrador pointed out.  
>'Then I'll draw them off.' Vance said.<p>

His suggestion was met with silence.  
>'Vance, no, you'll be killed.' Incandiasa said.<br>'I'm a dead man anyway,' Vance said with a grim smile. 'Might as well die for some purpose.'  
>'Don't throw away your life for no purpose human, a warrior needs to know when to flee to fight another day.' Terrador admonished.<p>

Vance laughed humourlessly as Rigal came out of the sword again.  
>'A warrior, sure, but a Guardsman usually has a commissar at their back; the logic is: if you flee, you <em>will<em> die, but if you fight you just might survive. And I will die for a purpose. Save Cyril, and keep that gate closed, but don't make this in vain by getting caught.' Vance replied, drawing his lasgun and flicking the safety off. 'And I'm not so easy to kill as you seem to believe.'

Another gaggle of apes came through from behind Vance, and he spun and mowed them down in a spray of las-fire.  
>'Go on, get out of here before this place is overrun.' Vance said, already heading for the side passage that lead to the gardens.<br>The dragons hesitated, and Vance paused, then rushed back to the door he'd entered through, where more apes were visible, coming from the courtyard.  
>'Go!' Vance said, gesturing to the balcony beyond the dojo.<p>

Then he turned to see the first apes coming.  
>'Come on you dumb apes!' He shouted, turning to run and flashing the emerald in his rucksack. 'You want breakfast, you're gonna have to catch it!' He taunted, before running past the dragons and out towards the gardens.<p>

He ran hard, but when he reached the gardens, he found himself looking at a full pack of them, along with a pack-leader.  
>Then a blur of flaming red jumped over him and knocked the apes aside.<br>'Get on!' Incandiasa said, as she flamed the apes to make sure they stayed down.  
>Vance did as she suggested, too gratified by Incandiasa's loyalty to protest.<br>'If you're going to risk your life for us, then I might at least make sure you've got a chance.' Incandiasa said as she leapt to the next courtyard, before barrelling through another group of apes out into the gardens proper.

Where they found themselves hemmed in on all sides by a teeming horde of apes, ranging from grunts right through to chieftains.  
>'I reckon a fury could do for about fifty of these guys.' Vance said, eyeing the horde before them as Ishta searched for a way out.<br>She didn't have room to take off, and there were dreadwings in the sky to contend with as well.  
>'And then the rest of the horde beats us to death.' Incandiasa replied.<br>'But we'd take our share with them.' Vance added, drawing his power-sword. 'But I was thinking we hack a bloody path to that door, then we run like hell.'

'That just might work.' Agreed Incandiasa.  
>As the apes began to surge forward, Incandiasa summoned a flaming halo around the two of them, and angled towards the secret tunnel, as Vance opened up with his lasgun.<br>When they made it to the wall, Vance laid down covering fire on Incandiasa's flanks, while he got Rigal to cover her rear as she bathed the door in flame and it ground open.

Then Vance was gripping with his knees grimly Incandiasa bolted down the tunnel as quickly as she could, Vance shooting any ape he got a clear line of site with as the horde poured down the tunnel after them.  
>The journey out took them only a third of the time it had taken to get in, and they burst out of the concealed entrance to find another group of apes waiting for them. Vance and Incandiasa cut them down quickly, before Vance slid from Incandiasa's back.<p>

'Go, I'll be fine.' Vance called, already forging his way towards one of the banks.  
>'You're heading the wrong way!' Incandiasa called.<br>'I've got a map, I'll catch you up when I've lost 'em!' Vance called back, already invisible in the undergrowth.

Incandiasa mewed unhappily, before taking to the wing, all too aware of the baying apes still in the tunnel.

* * *

><p><span>Fleeing the Temple<span>

Spyro couldn't help glancing back at the temple as they flew away, following Ignitus as he lead them towards the dragon city.  
>All too soon Incandiasa caught them up, looking extremely depressed.<br>'Vance?' Called Ignitus back.  
>Incandiasa shook her head in sorrow.<br>'He got away, but I don't know for how long.' She replied obviously deeply unhappy.

* * *

><p><span>Drawing the Apes away<span>

Vance kept running, breathing evenly, not daring to stop.  
>He kept hearing the apes on and off as he headed north-eastward, away from the temple in practically the opposite direction to the dragons.<br>He'd been running for the better part of five minutes, but he had a suspicion the apes were just trying to wear him down.

Then, he came out of the underbrush into a clearing, and immediately picked up speed to try and make use of the open ground.  
>He was nearly two thirds of the way across the clearing when he was broadsided by something vast, scaly, black and very solid, throwing him a good four metres, where he landed sprawling.<p>

God-Emperor that had _hurt_.  
>Not even the apes hit that hard.<br>Vance sat up as a dark, barbed shape strode towards him.  
>He rolled to his feet and shouldered his lasgun in favour of drawing his power-sword and laspistol, then started circling, a motion that the dark, barbed shadow mimicked.<p>

As they circled, Vance recovered from the blow, and he resolved the shape as an extremely lithe dragon that was possessed of a dark and chilling beauty.

It stood roughly three times his height, and must've been as long as a Valkyrie gunship.  
>It's tail had a wickedly sharp sickle shaped blade along with the talons on it's tattered, battle-scarred wings.<br>On its forelegs, neck and tail were iron bracelets that wouldn't have looked out of place in an Imperial jewellers.  
>In total, Vance found himself looking at a dragon that was a perfectly adapted killing machine that put the tyranids to shame.<p>

'Give me the crystal human.' Said Cynder commandingly.  
>'Over my dead body.' Replied Vance, before rolling to the side just in time to dodge Cynder's strike, replying with a trio of las-shots which took the dragoness in the side.<p>

He'd have been better off throwing rocks.  
>Cynder hissed in annoyance at the three pin-prick points of pain, then pounced on Vance, knocking aside his sword, before pinning him with her talons, then pressing down.<p>

Vance struggled against the relentless pressure Cynder put on his chest, crushing the breath from his body against the crystal, trying to dislodge her as his vision was edged in black.  
>Then, he desperately seized the foreleg, and summoned the electricity, sending the warp-lightning arcing through her.<br>Cynder bellowed in outraged agony, and tried to fling Vance off, but he hung on relentlessly, sucking in deep breaths of air.  
>Then Cynder reared on her hind limbs, and slammed Vance into the ground, breaking his grip and knocking him out cold.<p>

As if of their own accord, Vance's weapons returned to him, putting themselves away, before Cynder came under attack by something else with a far more substantial firearm than Vance's laspistol.  
>The bolt ripped through one of Cynder's wings, before she blasted the area with dark fire, causing the formerly invisible Rigal to fade out of existence into the power-sword to escape the flames.<p>

With a humph, Cynder snatched up Vance's unconscious form.  
>He had <em>exactly<em> the sort of power she needed, she'd felt it when he'd used the lightning attack.  
>He'd provide the power she needed.<br>With a beat of her wings she was air-borne, and headed for her fortress.

**That was fun to write.**

**Okay, thanks owed this time:**

**For the Favourite Author add, I'd like to thank: soldier of knowledge.**

**For Reviewing, I'd like to thank: T2238 and Hideout Writer.**

**'til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Aboard the _Aquila Ascendant_, launch bay 02, five days aboard.

Sergeant Norris checked his beloved shotgun over dispassionately once again.  
>'Have you got a fix on our exit point yet?' Asked the veteran sergeant in a calm voice at odds with his seething frustration.<br>+The dragon I contacted is fleeing the temple, I have a fix on the last location I got a lock on him, and Major West is done preparing his Valkyrie; by all means mount up, unless you'd prefer to fall a couple of kilometres through the sky.+ Eldrad replied as acerbically as the speakers of the Spiritseer construct would allow.  
>Sighing in exaggerated relief, Norris made a hand gesture to his men, and they filed into the Valkyrie's hold as Book fired up the engines.<br>All of them that was, but Connor, who was already ensconced in the co-pilot's seat and manning the weapon controls, having had some experience as a Valkyrie pilot in the Eternia PDF.  
>Like with most of the gear on the <em>Ascendant<em>, this to was non-standard:

The pilot had a pair of chin-turret mounted heavy bolters to call on, while the co-pilot had all the real weapon options: Shoulder-sponson mounted multi-lasers and lascannons and missile pods loaded with a blend of frag and krak rockets, while the hold was also generously accounted for with an assault cannon tail-gun and the two side doors with heavy bolters.

+All settled back there?+ Asked Book, who was piloting.  
>'Good to go Book, Eldrad, kick the door.' Aranthine told the Spiritseer, earning a startled look from Norris.<br>He'd fought Eldar before, and Aranthine's use of Imperial Guard battle-lingo was quite at odds with prior experience.  
>The pathfinder turned to the sergeant and shrugged a shoulder, the side of her face not hidden behind a half-mask expressing resigned amusement.<br>'Permanent contract with Vanko, I've worked so long with him that I've developed some…quirks.' She explained, further shaking Norris's long held theory that the Eldar were incapable of understanding the concept of humanity by their very nature.  
>Even more surprisingly, Eldrad didn't comment, but merely opened the webway portal in time for Book to fly the Valkyrie through.<br>+Good fortune pathfinder, guardsman.+ Eldrad said as the Valkyrie entered the webway portal.

* * *

><p><span>Fleeing the Temple, half an hour after Vance's capture.<span>

Incandiasa swerved to the side to avoid yet another kamikaze dreadwing, before tail-slamming its rider from its back.  
>Glancing sideways, she saw Terrador swat one aside contemptuously, and a startled yelp from her other side made her swerve sharply that way, and tackle the dreadwing that had latched onto Spyro, making it lose its grip.<br>The flight of the creatures had been harassing them since five minutes after she'd rejoined the group, and they were all beginning to tire.  
>Then she heard a crackling behind them.<br>She wasn't the only one, as she saw Ignitus and Spyro glance back, then saw their eyes go wide with shock.  
>+Do not be alarmed.+ A voice said to her.<p>

Then there was a throaty roaring sound, and she glanced back to see a gigantic metal contraption, vaguely similar in looks to a bird flying through the flock of dreadwings like an eagle through a flock of sparrows.  
>Incandiasa also picked a double-headed eagle symbol on the contraption, as well as another symbol, a long stroke cut through by three others.<p>

'Don't attack, that contraption is being flown by one of the servants of Inquisitor Vanko, they're here to help us!' Ignitus called.  
>Incandiasa nodded sharply, before dodging to the side to avoid a dreadwing, only to see a searing blast of ruby light vaporise it's head, and exit it through it's haunches, then for the unfortunate dreadwing to fall from the sky.<p>

+Don't get in our firing lane.+ Advised another voice, this one sounding female, and much more hardline than the first.  
>As one, all the dragons dropped back to fly level with, and slightly above the metal contraption.<br>Incandiasa saw that across the broad wings was painted an even larger eagle-symbol, and a series of symbols which Incandiasa couldn't understand.

+Any place in particular we can land and talk?+ Asked the second voice.  
>Ignitus must've made some reply, because he took the lead, and began leading them toward a plateau accessible only from the air.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Cynder's Fortress, unknown time, inside private Vance Jenkins' mind.<span>

Vance felt like crap.  
>He'd been laying in what he'd deduced was his own mindscape for quite a while.<br>Ever since the black dragoness had knocked him out to be specific.  
>And from about five minutes afterward, he'd been in the grip of a splitting 'mental migraine'.  
>How it was possible to have a headache inside your own head was a question Vance dearly wanted to ask, but he'd lost the use of his 'tongue'.<p>

+Just relax will you?+ Asked Kaldor irritably.  
>The mysterious being had been tampering with something or other in Vance's mind, which was the source of the pain.<br>+Look, just stop thinking about it and _relax_; I'm trying to impart some knowledge of how to use your powers in a broader spectrum than just elemental powers, but you're not helping he- Russ! Don't-+ Kaldor broke off from his tinkering, as Vance found himself reviewing his small store of knowledge of the dragon's healing crystals.  
>Then he felt a flair of hope and satisfaction, as well as feral delight, then the presence faded to nought.<br>+The fool. I don't know what he's thinking, I shouldn't have asked him to show you the Jaws of the World Wolf, or to impart knowledge of other elemental abilities to you…+ Kaldor trailed off and resumed his work.

* * *

><p><span>Cynder's fortress, unknown time.<span>

A skull-rending spike of unadulterated _pain_ ripped through Vance's head and he awoke gasping to find himself strapped to some sort of device.  
>He'd been stripped of his armour and weapons, and his bare chest was being buffeted by a cold wind.<br>His surroundings wouldn't have been out of place in a Basilica Imperialis, and for a heart-stopping moment he thought he'd been captured by the Ordo Hereticus or the Adepta Sororitas.  
>Then an ape clambered past him to tighten the manacle on his left wrist, and he realised he must've been taken to the ape's base.<p>

'Your task is done, leave us.' The voice was a threateningly low female voice that held just the hint of a reptilian hiss.  
>The ape leapt from the device Vance was strapped to, and scurried away, but not before Vance saw it snatch up his power-sword.<br>Despite himself, Vance felt a small, evil smile grace his face.  
>Without thinking, he reached out with his mind until he felt Rigal's presence.<br>+Rigal, when that ape draws that sword, get free and give 'em hell, then come and cut me free from this thing.+ Vance ordered, before realising he'd done so telepathically.  
>+Your wish is my command.+ Replied Rigal, evidently taking relish in the order.<p>

'Your kind have caused a lot of trouble to my plans.' Stated the threatening female voice.  
>Vance couldn't see the speaker.<br>'You know, up to a certain point, we both want the same thing.' Vance said cautiously.  
>'And yet, your comrades in arms are doing all they can to prevent my plans coming to fruition.' Said the voice, from off to Vance's right, in the shadows.<br>'They're not my comrades in arms.' Vance shot back. 'They're soulless heretics that are attempting to unleash the Dark Master in my world, I've got even more reason to want to stop them than you.'  
>'And yet you stole one of the crystals, and they unleashed a monster to break the others, your relativism is amusing to listen to, but you have been a thorn in my side. And you possess power. Power I can use to repair the damage you have done.'<br>With this, Vance saw the black dragon step from the shadows and place the emerald in front of the device he was strapped to.  
>It glowed sullenly, then Vance felt a ripping sensation as the crystal began to charge itself from warp-energy that was being filtered by Vance.<br>Vance gritted his teeth as the dragoness went and curled itself up in the centre of the room, then just watched.

* * *

><p><span>Plateau, a quarter of an hour after departing the <span>_Ascendant_.

Incandiasa watched curiously as the metal construct sat there.  
>It had touched down, and now she, the Guardians, Spyro and Sparx were waiting to see what it would do.<br>Movement caught her eye, and she saw one of the angular, black-and-silver protuberances at the front of the contraption swing open to reveal a heavily muscled human.

In truth, he looked something like a hairless ape, except he wore a red strip of cloth tied around his forehead, a leather vest, and he had a vicious looking knife at his side.  
>This human vaulted from the depression that was revealed under the hinged canopy, and watched them warily, one hand resting on the knife.<p>

The second canopy swung up as a panel in the side of the contraption swung open, allowing another group of figures to exit.  
>Of these, ten looked rather similar, while the eleventh was taller, lither, and looked different to the others, so Incandiasa assumed this one was female, due to how similar the other eleven looked to Vance.<br>This last one was the one to step forward.

'Greetings, I am Aranthine, Pathfinder of the Eldar, Inquisitor Vanko sent me as a go-between so there would be no unpleasant misunderstandings here.' Said Aranthine, with a slight bow to Ignitus.  
>'Your help is appreciated.' Ignitus replied mildly.<p>

One of the ten similarly armoured humans stepped forward, and the visor of his helmet split open as he pulled it from his head, revealing a sharp faced man with laser-intense green eyes and slightly long black hair.  
>'Diplomacy can wait for a moment, there's only one reason we're here, and I for one would like to know the situation, where's Jenkins?' Asked the man abruptly.<p>

The grave looks on the faces of the guardians, and the forlorn ones on Spyro's and Incandiasa's was as telling an answer as any verbal one.  
>'The God-Emperor rest his soul.' Said the man regretfully.<br>'He's not dead, he just drew the apes away so we could escape.' Incandiasa said.  
>The man brightened slightly, and this seemed to interest the other humans still waiting by the panel.<p>

Aranthine cocked her head as if listening.  
>'He's been captured. Eldrad just saw a black dragon knock him out cold, then fly off with him.' She said.<br>Ignitus gave Volteer and Terrador a significant look, to let them know he'd heard as well.

'Then we have to go after him.' Spyro said.  
>The man who'd cut across Aranthine cracked up laughing.<br>'Son, you got that right, but we don't know where he is, and our orders were pretty damn clear: we're to lend what assistance we can, and ensure Jenkins doesn't get killed; right now though, we don't know enough to be calling the shots.'  
>'No, but I do Sergeant Norris.' Said Ignitus.<br>The man gave Ignitus a long look.  
>'Yeah, I'm sure you do, and tell Eldrad from me to mind his own business.' Norris replied.<p>

The tension between the two groups relaxed slightly, and introductions were made.  
>'Now, what do you suggest we do Ignitus?' Asked Book.<br>'For now, we need to free Cyril, I discovered shortly before the attack that he is being held in tall plains.' Ignitus said.  
>'I overheard one of my guards say that Cynder would make her final preparations at her fortress; Vance possesses enough power for Cynder to do just that.' Terrador commented.<p>

Ignitus nodded solemnly.  
>'Very well, I will go and free Vance myself, the rest of you will see to Cyril, Terrador, if I do not return, you are in charge.' Ignitus said, fanning his wings.<br>'I've never left a man behind Ignitus, and I'm not about to walk out on Vance just 'cause he's a psyker.' Norris said.  
>Ignitus regarded Norris for a long minute.<br>'Very well.' the fire guardian relented.

'Book, you're in charge of 4th squad 'til I get back, Connor you're flying, Spence you're co-pilot.' Norris ordered.  
>'Yes sir, <em>sergeant.<em>' Book replied sarcastically.  
>Norris ignored the fact as easily as he'd ignored Book's rank.<p>

Aranthine stepped forward with Incandiasa.  
>'We're coming with you.' Aranthine said.<br>Norris sighed.  
>'Then let's step to.' He said.<br>'I'm coming-' Spyro began.  
>'No, you're going with the others to free Cyril, after that you can come join us.' Ignitus said.<p>

A few minutes later, Terrador, Volteer, Spyro and the modified Valkyrie were headed westwards, towards Tall Plains, while Ignitus and Incandiasa, with Norris and Aranthine on their backs headed for Cynder's fortress, located to the south-east in a desolate, storm-wracked crystal forest known as Concurrent Skies.

**Maybe this is slightly overkill…**

**And this wasn't really all that action-heavy…**

**Eh, it'll mean some fun in future chapters.**

**Thanks this time around:**

**For the favourite story add, I'd like to thank: Rogue 147.**

**For the review I'd like to thank: Hideout Writer.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter XVII

En Route

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Aboard Valkyrie _Screaming Eagle_, two hours out from Tall Plains, one hour post arrival.

4th squad was unusually quiet.  
>This was unusual, because usually pre-battle discussions would be taking place, full of innuendo, boisterous jokes and general morale preservation.<br>But, they were down two members: Private Vance Jenkins was being held captive by a corrupted dragon, and Sergeant Norris had gone to rescue him.  
>And no-one was under any illusions as to how steep the odds were of success, even for a bad-ass like Norris.<p>

There was also the matter of the purple dragon and glowing, talking dragonfly sharing the hold with them.  
>Terrador and Volteer flew abreast with the Valkyrie, but Spyro wasn't able to keep pace with the assault carrier.<br>Finally, Rider spoke to break the silence.

'How'd it happen?' Asked the plasma gunner, addressing Spyro.  
>'What?' Asked Spyro, who'd been looking rather despondent since boarding the carrier.<br>'How'd Jenkins manage to get himself caught?' Rider elaborated.  
>'Oh, he tried to draw the apes off, so the rest of us could escape.' Spyro replied. 'I hope he's okay, he saved my life a couple of days ago.' The young dragon added.<br>'Some things never change.' Farrell said with a reminiscent grin.  
>'Oh, not the frakking junction incident again!' Ghul groaned, slapping his visor in mock despair.<br>'If Jenkins hadn't have seen that ambush back on Helhiem, and pulled that stunt with the hot-shot and satchel charge, we wouldn't be talking right now.' Observed Vladimir.

This was the queue for a general discussion of the assault on Lucifer Hive to begin, a discussion that went way over Spyro's head, so he turned his attention to Major West, who was at that moment reading a book he'd had tucked in his breast pocket.  
>'Something I can do for you kid?' Asked the Catachani quietly.<br>'Why're you here?' Asked Spyro.  
>West snorted.<br>''Cause I want to be. Vanko gave me my shot at payback on the sonofabitch who destroyed my regiment during an engagement with a Tyranid hive; working for him seemed to be the only logical way to repay that debt.' West answered.  
>'But why're you <em>here, specifically?'<em> Asked Sparx.  
>West shrugged and regarded the pair.<br>'Cause frankly, an opportunity like this one doesn't come up too often. I've seen the galaxy, I might as well see some place that hasn't been ripped apart by religious zeal.' West replied with a shrug.  
>Deciding that West wasn't going to give him a straight answer, Spyro went back to worrying about Vance, Ignitus and Incandiasa.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Cynder's Fortress.<span>

Vance found that the ripping sensation the emerald crystal had induced in him had eased.  
>He unclenched his muscles and let himself sag against his restraints.<br>He could feel the full extent of his power now, but he was so tired…  
>With an effort, he pulled himself upright.<br>Then blinked in rapid surprise.

Lounging where Cynder had been mere moments before, was a dragon roughly the same size as Spyro, but it looked much more like Cynder in colouring, and even had the gothic bracelets.  
>'If this is some kind of subtle 'frak you', you sadistic bitch, leaving your offspring to keep watch on me, I am going to <em>kill <em>you when I break free of this!' Vance shouted defiantly.  
>The young-Cynder look-alike glanced at Vance.<br>'What are you babbling about human?' Asked the look-alike in the dark dragoness' voice.  
>Vance frowned in confusion.<br>Then with a jolt he recalled Ignitus's words of a few days previously:  
>Cynder had been corrupted by dark powers, but it wasn't as permanent as the corruption he,-Vance,- feared.<p>

With this realisation, Vance decided to infuriate his captor.  
>'Nothing.' He said in a normal tone. 'My eyes were closed, but now I see you for what you are.' He added afterward.<br>The look-alike seemed taken aback by this, and now Vance's vision flickered, and he saw both the young-Cynder and the corrupted version.  
>The young version was looking at Vance with incredulity.<br>'_You can see me?'_ It asked in a faint, ghostly voice filled with pathetic hope.

The corrupt version chuckled derisively.  
>'If you honestly think you can get under my hide by simply making your eyes glow, then you are obviously more of an idiot than you appear.' Said the corrupted Cynder dismissively.<br>Vance cocked his head, and decided to take a chance.  
>'Well, if you don't want to know what's going down at Tall Plains, then that's your affair.' He said dismissively.<br>The corrupt Cynder glanced sharply at Vance.  
>'What's this?' It asked.<p>

'Oh, nothing, just that a half-Space Marine half-Ogryn creature, a cult intent of freeing your boss in my world and the guardians are headed for Tall Plains, and they're all intent on destroying that last crystal Cyril is powering.' Vance said dismissively.  
>'Do you honestly think that I didn't take that into account after I discovered you had stolen this one?' the corrupt Cynder asked. 'Oh no, you're going to power that one as well.' So saying, Cynder replaced the now-glowing emerald with a ice-blue gem that wasn't glowing as bright.<br>The ripping sensation returned redoubled.

'_Enough!'_ Shouted Vance, as the renewed sensation began to hurt worse than the original.  
>With an effort of will, he dredged up more of his power and rammed it into the glowing stone, which flared blindingly.<br>The effort left him hanging from his restraints, nearly unconscious.  
>The corrupted Cynder claimed the blue crystal as well.<br>'One more, and I think the effort may leave you dead; a shame, it has been amusing at least, to speak with you.'  
>Cynder stepped back into the shadows, and returned with a dull, blood-red crystal.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Outside perimeter of Cynder's fortress, just prior to the charging of the blue crystal.<span>

'Did this Cynder person hire an imperial architect for that place or something?' Asked Norris, as he eyed the massive fortress that stood in the middle of the crystal forest.  
>'Your buildings are usually that dark looking?' Asked Ignitus.<br>'Gloomier. They're usually covered in motifs of human skulls.' Aranthine said, without looking up from the scope of her long rifle. 'I think it would be best if we struck at the top of that tower, grabbed Vance, and then ran or flew like hell; fortunately, none of their defences are pointed inward.'

'Smash and grab works for me.' Norris admitted.  
>'Very well.' Ignitus agreed. 'Aranthine, Incandiasa, hang back; you shall infiltrate this place from the ground. Sergeant Norris and myself will attempt to free Vance at the summit of the tower.<br>Norris pumped his shotgun.  
>'Let's kick some ass.' He said, before clambering onto Ignitus' back.<br>'I'll keep you posted.' Norris said to Aranthine via the vox-link in his helmet.

* * *

><p><span>Tall Plains. Three hours post-arrival.<span>

The Valkyrie touched down quietly on a small ledge twelve kilometres from where Cyril was being held.  
>'Pile out, we're splitting up from here.' Book ordered, selecting what appeared at first glance to be a modified lasgun from the wall. 'Connor, Spence, you're providing air superiority.' He said as he stepped out the side hatch.<br>'Vladimir, Rider, go with Terrador, Farrell, Ghul, you're with Volteer, Jackson, you're comin' with me and Spyro.'  
>The Guardsmen broke off, and assembled near whichever dragon Book had assigned them to help.<p>

'Everyone, pick a place to try and get in, kill anything that gets in the way and if you get into trouble, vox Spence and Connor to take it out. Now let's get moving.'  
>Ignitus had already told them all he knew before he'd left, now it was down to them.<p>

'This guy is crazier than Vance.' Sparx said as they followed the heavily muscled human, going past the dead body of an ape and into a cave.  
>'He comes from a world where everything from the plants up try to kill you, this probably constitutes a holiday for him.' Jackson said as he strode along beside Spyro.<br>'Thanks for coming to help.' Spyro said.  
>Jackson laughed.<br>'Be thankful that we're here and not folk from somewhere else, folk from the Messiah sector are raised with legends of benevolent dragons which protect humanity from the dangers of the warp. Everywhere else in the galaxy you'd be classified as xenos.'  
>Spyro would've liked to question Jackson further, but as they exited the cave, they came across Book fighting three apes at once.<br>'You left, me right, leave the Major to take the big guy in the middle.' Jackson said, already charging at his intended victim.  
>It was going to be a long day.<p>

**Nothing much to say here at the second.**

**Thanks this time:**

**For reviewing: Hideout Writer and T-2238.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter XVIII

Aggressive Negotiation

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

As Ignitus levelled off above the top tower, Sergeant Norris saw something that made his blood run cold.  
>His visor's built-in electronics informed him that Vance was nearly dead.<br>As Ignitus circled in above the tower, Norris made a snap decision.  
>Without pausing to inform the dragon of his plan, Norris jumped from Ignitus's back and plummeted towards the tower's summit.<p>

He broke through the glass canopy of the tower, sending a deadly rain of glass shards downwards, before landing on the back of an ape the approximate size of an ork Deff Dread.

Norris's impact on its shoulders drove the beast to its knees, and Norris quickly knifed it in the back of the head, killing it instantly, before throwing the knife at a second chieftain that had noticed him.

Drawing his shotgun one-handed, and his chainsword in the other, before switching the shotgun's feed cylinder to the one containing bolt-rounds by pulling the slide up to the left, Norris charged a third chieftain as it turned, clambering up it's back, before revving the chainsword and drawing the whirling, razor-sharp teeth across the ape's throat.

The fourth and final chieftain had seen him, but it was too late for it to do anything.  
>Norris had already lined it up down the barrel of his shotgun.<br>_Blam!  
><em>Normally, the recoil would've dislocated Norris's shoulder, but in this instance, wearing modified carapace plate, the recoil was reduced by inertial dampeners, and it wasn't as much as Norris had been expecting.

More tinkering on the Jokaero's part no doubt.  
>Norris resolved to give the simian-like alien a gift for the unlooked for improvement.<br>It made living up to his reputation as a total bad-ass that much easier.

Still, the black dragon hadn't noticed him.  
>'Hey!' Shouted Norris, pumping his shotgun to chamber a cartridge.<br>The black dragon whipped around at this, dropping the crystal on it's side, leaving Vance unmolested.  
>'Cut him down, or by the God-Emperor on Holy Terra, I will kick you from here to the middle of the next millennium.' Norris said.<br>The black dragon snorted in disbelieving contempt, then pounced.

* * *

><p>Arkeo Doombringer had never really done anything extraordinary.<p>

He'd survived a couple of encounters with dragons, but that was due more to his habit of hanging back while the rest of his pack threw themselves head-on at the beasts.  
>But now, he had this shiny looking sword, he felt confident he could make a name for himself.<br>With admiring eyes, he drew the sword again while the rest of the pack squabbled over the spitted carcass of a boar hung over the fire.  
>'<em>About time,'<em> groused a voice of supreme hatred.  
>Before Arkeo could enquire, his head exploded in a fine mist of blood, bone, brain and cerebral fluid.<br>The shot alerted the rest of the pack.

They all spun around to see Arkeo's headless corpse,-but there was nothing there…  
>'<em>Run little monkeys, run, run, run, you filthy, inbred Xenos scum!' <em>Taunted a voice, and punctuating each of the last four words was a deafening bang, and the popping of another ape's head.  
>The apes began fleeing in terror as Rigal retrieved the sword and scabbard he was bound to,-his own favourite weapon for Throne's sake!<br>Now, until Vance reappeared, he had killing to do.

* * *

><p>'The Atlawa and Kain need no help.' Said the llama, crossly.<br>'Good. We're in kind of a hurry anyway. We only broke you out 'cause this kid wanted to.' Said West, indicating Spyro. 'We've got heretics to frak up, a dragon to free, an apocalypse to prevent…you know, important stuff; have a nice life.' So saying, West reloaded his modified lasgun, then cleaned his 'Devil's Claw' machete.

'You didn't need to be so rude.' Spyro said reproachfully.  
>'He seemed like an asshole to me,' Jackson said. 'Maybe talking with a Catachan jungle-fighter will make him drop that a bit.'<p>

Tall Plains it turned out was a navigational nightmare.  
>Terrador and Volteer knew their ways around Tall Plains well enough to get by, but the mountainous jungle was beginning to piss Buck West off.<br>'Hopefully, we'll get up to that sodding ledge soon, this is getting ridiculous.' He said as they set off away from the break in the cliffs they'd been walking past.

Kain looked after the purple dragon and the two beings with him.  
>'So, those other bastards are called 'heretics', huh?' Said Kain to himself.<br>He felt a certain kinship with the bulky one that'd belittled him.

That one was proud, uncompromising and focused, and Kain respected that.  
>The Atlawa didn't need help, but the dragon and his companions sure could do with some.<p>

* * *

><p>Norris dove to the side as the dragon pounced, and retaliated by unloading a cartridge just behind where it's wing met it's body, peppering it with steel ball bearings the size of Norris's thumbnail.<br>The dragon screamed in rage, before lashing it's tail at him, which Norris deflected with his vambrace.

It pounced again, and Norris countered by slamming it in the chest with the stock of his gun, being knocked backwards in the process, but rolling to his feet out of range of the dragon.  
>'Come here ya son of a bitch!' Norris challenged, before advancing, at a run, firing his shotgun as he came.<p>

At the closing range, the ball bearings couldn't do much but leave nasty bruises under the dragon's scales, and deliver concussive shock.  
>The latter was what Norris wanted.<br>As the last couple of feet between them closed, he body-slammed the dragon, knocking it back a step-  
>-and causing it to step out into empty space, where gravity took effect, and dragged it partially off the edge of the tower, before it grabbed on desperately with it's foreclaws.<p>

'Gravity, one of the laws of nature.' Norris quipped, pumping his shotgun. 'And she can be a rotten bitch sometimes.' He added, taking aim at the dragon's exposed throat. 'Unfortunately for you,' Norris said, his finger hovering over the trigger. 'So can I.' He said, and drove the heel of his combat boot into the tendons of the dragon's left forepaw, causing it to lose it's grip and fall off the tower.  
>'When you hit the ground, tell 'em Sergeant Norris sent ya!' Shouted Norris after the dragon.<p>

With that, he shouldered his shotgun, and ran over to where Jenkins was crucified to a metal receiver dish-like contraption.  
>'Jenkins? Jenkins, talk to me,' Norris said, slapping the Private lightly on the cheek.<br>'Serge…?' Groaned Jenkins in confusion.  
>'One and only son, I'm here to get you outta here.' Said Norris, retrieving his knife, then cutting Jenkins down.<br>'Hang on a sec, while I juice you, we're not just gonna be walkin' outta here.' He said.  
>'No, you won't be.' Said the black dragon murderously.<p>

Norris noted in a detached corner of his mind that dealt with such trivialities, that the dragon was female, and then it was snapped back to trying to figure out a way to survive the next five seconds.

**I have stressed in the past that Sergeant Norris is a bad-ass.**

**This was the first opportunity I had to really show it.**

**I hope I did a good job, and didn't nerf Cynder too badly.**

**If I did, Sergeant Norris has survived no less than SIXTY campaigns in the 40k universe.**

**For those of you who really KNOW their 40k that means he is extremely lucky and knows when to duck, dodge or get out of the way in general.**

**Thank you to soldier of knowledge and Hideout Writer for reviewing.**

**Thanks to Glasbruch for Favouriting.**

**For Favourite Authoring, I'd like to thank Culebra del Sol.**

**For those of you who haven't been following it, I finished my first full-length story the other day, **_**The Tale of the Grey Rider**_**, a Pre-Fall, Inheritance Cycle 'fic that follows the exploits (and mainly misadventures) of my OC Rider.**

**It is the first in a series, the second of which is upcoming and will be called: **_**The Fall**_**.**

**Check them out if you haven't all ready, and like you should with this, leave a review to offer some advice, insight, etc.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter IXX

Rumble in the Jungle

**Disclaimer: See chapter one.**

Labyrinthine Plateau, Tall Plains.

'Ah frak, this is going to take forever to clear.' Groused Book, resting his Devil's Claw on his shoulder.  
>They were in a large area, with cliffs on two sides, and in between them and a barred pass out, was a series of small plateaus.<br>And on said plateaus was a small army's worth of apes.  
>'<em>Screaming Eagle, <em>requesting a strafing run right over my head and down centre field to take these hairy assholes out, over.' Book called into his vox.  
><em>+'We copy Major, but we're currently en route to Terrador, Vladimir and Rider, they've encountered a PDC force, and are pinned down by heavy weapons fire, over.'+ <em>Replied Spence.  
>'Copy that, we'll do this the old fashioned way then.' Book replied, then stuffed his vox back into his combat webbing.<br>'I could lead you around here and straight to the shrine.' Said a voice.

Buck whirled, levelling his Devil's Claw at the speaker.  
>He blinked when he saw it was the Atlawa, Kain, then lowered the weapon fractionally.<br>'Okay, if you're here to spout your superiority, you can just go frak off. Between the mosquito, Private Cooker and a purple dragon who can't quite grasp 'contextual allies', I'm all out of patience for obnoxious personalities.' Buck said.  
>'I don't need your help, but if you want to reach the shrine before your enemies do, then you'd best follow me.' Kain replied.<p>

Buck sheathed his machete, and traded looks with Jackson, and Spyro.  
>He turned back to Kain.<br>'Cross us, and it'll be the last thing you ever do.' Buck said, before the three of them approached the concealed path that Kain was standing near.

* * *

><p><span>Unknown part of Tall Plains, north of the Shrine.<span>

He stalked through the brush with his mighty sword in hand, and a bolter in his other hand.  
>The smells of this place were akin to a hundred other jungle-worlds he'd fought on back before Horus had back-stabbed the Allfather.<p>

Since he'd gone hunting for a way to bring him back, his search had been virtually fruitless.  
>But, it turned out that doing that idealist Draigo a favour regarding that whelp of a guardsman had been more than worth it.<br>The whelp knew vaguely about some sort of healing crystal these dragons made use of,-and they were potent enough to heal even mortal injuries.

It'd been easy enough to slip into a section of the Webway open to the Warp, and to back-track to an appropriate exit therein and come out in this jungle,-and there'd even been a rough track of sorts through the brush.  
>He didn't much care where he was going, just so long as he could find some of those healing crystals.<p>

Leman Russ smiled, flashing extended canines that would've put a walrus to shame.  
>It had been nearly ten thousand years, but at last, his search was coming to a close.<p>

* * *

><p><span>Meanwhile, at the Bridge to the Shrine.<span>

Executor was all smiles.  
>Except on <em>his <em>face, a smile looked like the first symptom of some sort of horribly painful disease.

The Master's old servants, the _Slave's_ puppets had put up tenacious, if futile resistance, and the Cult's forces were still trying to stall them while Executor saw to his mission.  
>He strode out of the passage he was in, and smiled wider.<br>The shrine was up ahead, just across a bridge now.

He turned to the gaggle of cultists who'd accompanied him this far.  
>'Guard this passage. No one follows me to that shrine.' He ordered in a voice made hoarse by his barely checked perpetual rage.<br>Having said this, he began to make his way across the bridge.  
>After all the infuriating setbacks, he would finally be able to put a period to the <em>Slave's<em> plan.

* * *

><p><span>The Bridge to the Shrine, three minutes later.<span>

'Here we are.' Kain said.  
>They'd been walking an hour through tunnels, and over catwalks while Dreadwings flew patrol above, but they hadn't encountered any resistance.<p>

Up ahead was another high plateau, and it had the look of a ruined temple.  
>Between them and it was a rope bridge, and on the other side was a colossal figure in power armour, carrying no less than <em>two<em> heavy weapons like they were rifles, _and_ an eviscerator.  
>And on their side of the bridge were no less than ten Purple Dragon Cult foot soldiers.<p>

'Alright, thanks for the help,' Buck said, addressing Kain. 'Now stay down, we'll take care of these bastards.' Then he turned to Jackson and Spyro. 'Alright, Jackson, you and I are going to put some grenades out there to make those cultists dance, then Spyro, you're going to put some fireballs or something out there to keep them suppressed while Jackson and I charge in and finish them.'

Spyro nodded, and Jackson already had a frag grenade primed in his hand.  
>Buck primed his own, then nodded, and threw his grenade round-arm at the guards, while Jackson threw it baseball-style.<p>

The cultists were on the alert, but the soft grass muffled the impacts of the two grenades, and by the time one of the cultists cried out in alarm, only the reactions of an eldar would have saved them.  
>The grenades detonated, and immediately, Spyro sent a trio of fireballs arcing down among the survivors, who'd been thrown around by the blast, while Jackson and Buck sprinted across the open ground.<p>

Three cultists stumbled to their feet, bloody and dirty and shell shocked, but ready to fight.  
>At least, they thought they were.<p>

Buck shot one three times in the chest and decapitated another with his Devil Claw, while Jackson turned three to ash with his melta gun.  
>Buck curb-stomped another, and shot another cultist who stirred, twice in the back of his head.<p>

A woman staggered to her feet, and Jackson put his combat knife through the back of her neck while he kneed a man who'd just came to his feet with a hatchet in the groin.  
>The man swung the hatchet, which stuck in Jackson's torso, and made him fall backwards with a startled '<em>whouf'<em>, before Buck shot the man three times in the face.

Spyro came bounding out of the brush while Buck went down on one knee by the fallen Private.  
>'I'm alright,' groaned Jackson, as Buck pulled the axe from his chest plate. 'Argh!' He hissed as the axe briefly put pressure on his chest.<br>'That'll be a couple of ribs though.' Buck commented, hefting the hatchet, spinning it and then lobbing it at a cultist who was not-so-subtly crawling towards an abandoned auto rifle.  
>It took him in the back of the head on a diagonal and buried itself to the haft, breaking the man's neck in the process.<p>

Buck looked across the bridge at the power-armoured figure that had just reached the other side. He pulled his gun and sighted across at the thing:  
>It had a heavy bolter in its hands, an auto cannon across its back, and an eviscerator at its side opposite a grenade dispenser.<p>

'Ain't no frakking way we can take that guy in a straight fight.' Buck said, lowering his rifle.  
>'What is that thing?' Spyro asked, coming to stand by Buck.<br>'A frakking one-man army. Even if we had the _Eagle_, and everyone else, that thing could tear us apart inside of a minute.' Buck said.

At that moment, there was the firing of a heavy bolter from the temple, followed by something big groaning in pain.  
>'I feel sorry for whatever poor, poor, unlucky bastard that got in that thing's way.' Buck said with a shake of his head.<br>'What do we do now?' Spyro asked.

Buck didn't reply.  
>Instead, he drew his Devil's Claw and went to cut the bridge's rope, then thought better of it.<br>'We'll wait until that guy comes back, and when he's halfway across, we cut the ropes on him.' Buck said, just as there came a feral howl and a bellowed oath of rage from the temple.

He snapped around at the howl.  
>'That…' He pulled the vox from his combat webbing. 'Kjal!' Exclaimed Buck.<br>He listened to a unintelligible reply from the other end of the line for a moment, then put the vox away, and pulled Jackson to his feet.  
>'Come on, that was a Space Wolf, or a Blood Wolf, and I think we just might have a chance now.' Buck said, supporting Jackson, while he gripped his laspistol in his other hand as they stepped out onto the bridge.<p>

* * *

><p><span>The Shrine.<span>

Executor stepped past what remained of the stone sentinel the natives had set to guarding the shrine.  
>It had come apart with absurd ease against Executor's heavy bolter, and he'd almost considered destroying the thing with his bare hands to conserve ammunition.<br>He stopped, and his vision went red.

The crystal was gone!  
>The guardian was still alive, passed out with exhaustion, but the crystal was gone.<p>

The thrice-damned _Slave_ had retrieved all the crystals to foil him; it'd probably seen the one at the volcano had been stolen, and taken this one to be sure it didn't go missing.  
>He bellowed in rage, and raised his heavy bolter to dash the dragon's head in,-and damn what the Master would think-<p>

A feral howl rang out in answer, and something with the approximate mass of a land raider smashed into his side, sending him flying into a wall with the crunch of breaking stone.

He shook his head to clear his eyes, and beheld a gigantic figure, clad in archaic power armour.  
>It stood head and shoulders above him, and grasped a sword that was as big as some Astartes.<br>It had a bolter in its left hand, though it looked more like a bolt pistol in the stranger's massive fist.

Executor rolled to his feet and pulled his eviscerator.  
>Now he saw his enemy's face, he saw it was an old man, with hair as grey as a winter sky, eyes of gold, and wrinkled skin that looked as hard as leather.<br>His face was distorted by a snarl, that showed his huge canines in an intimidating display, but Executor wasn't fazed.

His eviscerator roared to life as he swung the weapon at his aggressor, only to have it parried, and spun away, so he had to draw it in quickly to avoid being bisected by the newcomer's counter-blow.  
>Executor swung a low blow, and was forced to leap back or be cut in half by his opponent's monstrous sword.<p>

+Retreat. You are over-matched by this one.+ Ordered the Master.  
>+Never!+ Proclaimed Executor, and launched a flurry of blows at his opponent.<p>

* * *

><p>Spyro bounded to the lip of the bowl to the shrine and looked down to see the being that had fought the ice king striving against a grey-armoured giant, which was putting up an equally ferocious fight.<br>Jackson and Buck caught up and stopped cold at the sight.

'That's-' Buck stopped, and his jaw dropped.  
>'There's no possible way.' Jackson said, shaking his head in denial. 'You'd have to be some sort of tactical genius-'<br>'Not even _he_ could pull a _Primarch_ out of thin air, Private.' Buck said with a shake of his head.  
>'Who is he?' Spyro asked, indicating the grey armoured giant with a wingtip.<br>'I don't know for sure, but it looks like Leman Russ.' Buck said in awe. 'We'd better sit this one out, this is a battle between a demi-god and a pretender.' He added.  
>'Yeah, I'm with the big guy on this one.' Sparx said, and they stood there and watched the battle unfold:<p>

* * *

><p>While they'd been talking, Executor had disarmed both himself, and the supposed Primarch, and they were now beating on one another bare-handed.<br>At present, Russ had Executor across his shoulders, with one hand crushing Executor's windpipe with one massive hand.  
>Executor just managed to pry the vice grip off his throat, when Russ slammed Executor into the ground, and stomped down with blinding speed, and Executor only just managed to catch Russ's boot before it turned his head to mush.<p>

In terms of strength and toughness, Executor and Russ were on roughly equal ground, but Russ had the advantage of experience, and a slight edge in speed.  
>That said, low cunning is usually present in any fighter to the same degree:<p>

Executor used his legs to bring Russ to his knees, then jack-knifed to his feet, and tackled the Primarch onto his back and proceeded to try and strangle the millennia old warrior.  
>Russ for his part rolled backward so Executor was under him, and proceeded to begin punching Executor in the face over and over, forcing the half-Astartes to cover his face from the relentless beating.<p>

But this left him blind, and the next thing Executor knew, Russ had picked him up, threw him over his shoulder, and back-kicked him through the ruin of the stone sentinel and into another wall, before charging after the stunned Executor.

Executor saw the enraged Primarch charging towards him, and unable to get his heavy bolter out in time, he instead opted to pull his combat knife, and roll aside from Russ's next stomp, before coming to his feet, and taking a swing at Russ, only for the Primarch to dodge aside, and put two punishing punches into his side.  
>He swung again, and copped another two blows to the chest for his trouble.<br>He then stabbed, lightning fast, but Russ merely shifted slightly, and the stab skated off his breast plate, before Russ grabbed him by the wrist and twisted his arm while he kicked Executor in the back of the knee, before putting his boot into Executor's back and used his overwhelming leverage to wrench the knife from Executor's hand, and the next thing Executor knew, everything went black.

+I told you, you were overmatched you rash fool.+ The Master said, his displeasure clear.

* * *

><p>'Oookay, I hope that guy's on our side.' Sparx said.<p>

In the span of two minutes of epic hand-to-hand combat, the grey armoured giant had beaten the other power-armoured giant into submission, and then _killed it_ with its own knife.  
>The grey armoured giant whipped around to see them watching, as the body at its feet disappeared in a flash of light.<p>

Buck snapped to attention as he beheld the grizzled face.  
>No doubt, this was indeed Leman Russ.<p>

'You with that thing?' Growled Russ.  
>'No my Lord, that thing and its lackeys sought the downfall of the Emperor at the claws of a daemon of this world.' Buck called back.<br>'And what's your purpose here?' Russ called.  
>'We're hear to rescue the guardian ice dragon, Cyril.' Spyro called.<p>

Russ snorted.  
>'Well, I might've done you a favour then, now, where can I find some of the healing crystals I've heard originate here?' The Primarch said.<br>Spyro frowned at this, then turned as he heard wings on the air, and when he turned to look, he saw Terrador and Volteer glide in to the plateau, and further out, the _Screaming Eagle_ was flying towards their position.

When the guardians alighted, they beheld the Primarch with a mixture of suspicion and wariness.  
>'You've got some strange companions, guardsman, why don't you tell an old Primarch exactly what is going on here?' Suggested Russ, as he retrieved his sword.<p>

Buck sighed.  
>'It's a long story, My Lord.' He said, as the Primarch approached, without even a glint of wariness in his golden eyes.<p>

Buck went to begin, but then the Primarch was looming before him, and suddenly, the Primarch's sheer size silenced Buck.  
>He stood as tall as Terrador, and looked the guardian in question in the eyes with an easy confidence that could almost have been mistaken for arrogance.<br>Buck felt something vast and animal brush his mind, and then Russ nodded.

'Aye, it is a long story, and worthy of the skalds of the Aett.' He said.  
>At that moment, Buck's vox crackled to life.<p>

+'Anyone who can hear me…'+ Said a slurred voice. +'This is Private Vance Jenkins of the 50th Eternia Infantry, I need extraction, I've got wounded-'+ Then the line went dead.  
>Buck waved the <em>Eagle <em>in to land, as the guardians tried to rouse Cyril.  
>As the ice guardian staggered to his feet, Buck practically threw Spence out of the pilots seat, and climbed in himself.<p>

'4th squad, mount up,' He ordered. 'Lord Russ, I'll leave you to get the info you need from the guardians, I don't think you'll fit in the crew bay.' Buck said apologetically to the Primarch of the Sixth Legion.

Russ nodded his shaggy head in acknowledgement.  
>'Allfather guide you, Major.' He said in response, as Buck sealed the cockpit and used the retro-jets to take off, and moments later, the <em>Screaming Eagle <em>was moving flat out for the location Buck had traced Vance's signal to, hoping they'd arrive in time.

**I'll end this here, I think.**

**Yes, this was a little fragmented, and I might be being a little too liberal with the canon characters, but I'm enjoying myself with it, and I hope everyone else is as well.**

**For the **

**For the Favourite Story add, I'd like to thank fly to the hevens and Dominik T.**

**For Reviewing, I'd like to thank: soldier of knowledge and Hideout Writer.**

'**til next time:**

**No One-liners.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter XX

The Way Out From Hell

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Sergeant Norris dropped the syringe he'd been holding and rolled away from Jenkins, keeping eye contact with the dragon as he did so.

When he was sure Jenkins wasn't in the line of fire, Norris went for his combat knife, only for the dragon to spring, forcing Norris to dive out of the way, just a fraction too slowly, as the dragoness caught him, dragged him back towards her and then pinned him beneath her claws.

'Right to the mount, huh? I didn't even have to buy you dinner; I like your style, but I make a point of not dating outside my species.' Norris quipped.  
>In response to this, the she-dragon flicked him into the air like a rag doll.<p>

Norris attempted to alter his flight path, but it was like trying to steer a feather in a hurricane.

A red-hot line of pain flared across his gut as the dragon's tail-blade whipped across it, cutting through the thinner armour plates with apparent ease and scoring a laceration.

The blow sent him flying, fetching him up near the edge of the tower platform.

Norris looked back to see his executioner stalking towards him, determined to see him die first hand.

Then, a fast-moving, flaming red and orange something blindsided the she-dragon so hard that they both went shooting off the side of the tower, roaring and clawing at each other.

_Just in time. I owe that sonuvabitch a drink._ Norris thought through the haze of pain. He groaned as he forced himself to stand, clapping a hand to his stomach.

No blood.

That meant he'd clenched up and the blood wouldn't start flowing unless the area suffered further trauma.

As he approached Jenkins, he saw the kid sit up. He'd self-administered the adrenaline shot.

'Shit Jenkins, you're a tough bastard. The Inquisition kills the planet you're on and you just find a new one.'  
>Jenkins grimaced weakly as he climbed unsteadily to his feet.<br>'I learnt from the best, Sarge.' He said tiredly. 'How'd you get here?'  
>'An Inquisitor wants your help putting down a cult. Even has the Eldar workin' with him.' Norris replied tightly as he pulled out a field-dressing and deftly applied it. 'Frak, that bitch hit like a Throne-damned Screamer-Killer.' He said as he tied off a bandage.<p>

While he'd been doing so, Jenkins had been slowly donning his armour.

He walked back to where Norris was sitting and helped the grizzled veteran sergeant to his feet, and pulled a laspistol.

'I take it you've got a way down to the ground?' Jenkins asked.  
>'I've got a grav-chute.' Norris replied as his vox crackled to life.<p>

+'Norris, this is Aranthine, we just saw Ignitus and Cynder involved in a battle royale up there, what's your status?'+  
>'SNAFU. That bitch sliced me open, but I'll live. I've got Jenkins, we're coming down.' Norris replied.<p>

The pair of them staggered to the edge of the platform, then Norris engaged the grav-chute and they leapt away from the edge of the tower and all its barbs.

_Yeah, that bitch hired an Imperial architect._ Norris thought as the buttressed tower and spikes drifted past them.

They touched down a few minutes later and immediately, an ape ran towards them.

Jenkins fired a few shots at it, managing to take it down in three. He was too weary to worry about how Norris would feel about his sloppy aim.

Then his legs gave out and he fell back against the wall.

'Is your vox keyed into a wider frequency?' Jenkins croaked.  
>'Yeah…' Norris replied, then he too, fell back against the tower as shock set in.<p>

Jenkins took Norris's vox-link then spoke:

'Anyone who can hear me…This is Private Vance Jenkins of the 50th Eternia Infantry, I need extraction, I've got wounded-' A blurt of static filled the vox set as lightning struck a nearby crystal and Jenkins let the vox-link fall from nerveless fingers as everything went black again.

* * *

><p>A high-pitched whistling stirred Vance back to wakefulness.<p>

It repeated, along with the crackling of flames.

Forcing his eyes open, Vance immediately thought he was dreaming:

A dragon and what could only be an Eldar were facing down an army of apes.

Then he remembered the events of the past week and realised the Eldar must've been the one Sergeant Norris had mentioned and Incandiasa had come to rescue him.

He groped for his weapons and found his lasgun.

Then, a deathly-chill hand grasped his and pulled him up.

'On your feet soldier, we've got more of these filthy creatures to down before we'll have any peace.' Rigal growled, snapping a shot off at some target.

Briefly, Vance wondered how Rigal even still had ammunition, then figured that being basically a warp entity,-albeit, one devoted to the Emperor,-it was just his version of throwing warp-fire.

Vance also noted Sergeant Norris was still out cold and they were on a raised plateau near a break in the crystal forest.

There was no time for questions:

Below, apes and cultists were fighting viciously, while those close to the plateau were also firing on them.

Vance staggered to the pile of rocks the Eldar was using for cover and began taking potshots.

* * *

><p>Incandiasa used an ape pack-leader as an improvised bludgeon to knock apes and cultists alike back from the little plateau where they'd moved to await extraction.<p>

When they'd found Vance and Norris, unconscious at the base of the tower, Incandiasa had felt a chill that had nothing to do with the weather.

At Aranthine's word, they'd gathered the injured guardsmen up and moved to this plateau, where they'd managed to lay low for about half an hour before they'd been found, watching mutely as Ignitus and Cynder fought in the skies above.  
>Then the apes had found them and Incandiasa had had her work cut out keeping them off of Aranthine.<p>

Things hadn't gotten much easier when cultists had shown up: They were just as happy to shoot at her as they were to shoot at the apes and vice versa.

One of the cultists managed to mount her and drove a knife into her back.

She reared and crushed him against the rock behind her, stamping a pair of apes to jelly when she came back down and crisping a few combatants in front of her with fire to clear some breathing room.

That was the fifth enemy that had flanked her and another wound to add to the tally.

They had to get out of here before things got any dicier.

* * *

><p>Vance swapped power-packs with hands that felt like they were as dexterous as servitor's lifter-pincers, then went back to shooting into the seething mass of heretics and savages.<p>

Tired or not, sore or not, keeping company with an Eldar, a Commissar's ghost and a dragon or not, trying to hold this little plateau against a seemingly numberless horde seemed almost…routine. As if deep down, he'd accepted that they weren't getting out of this and was simply fighting to spite the cultists.

It was at that precise moment the frag rockets struck home and sent dirt, mud, cultists and apes alike flying, some in pieces, others with massive holes through them.

With stiff limbs, Vance hauled himself and Sergeant Norris up as the Valkyrie that had just appeared out of nowhere engaged its VTOLs and took to mowing cultists down with its guns, a boarding ramp extending to admit him, Sarge and the Eldar.

He didn't get much further than the threshold before he collapsed.

**Alright, I've been on this story long enough.**

**Special thanks to ****artark ****again for the epic piece of coverart.**

**This story is on the way to wrapping up.**

**I started this way back in 2011 and since then, I like to think my writing (or at least, the execution of my stories,) has improved and matured somewhat.**

**This story has actually spawned an Imperial Guard regiment to add to my 40k collection, along with a Dark Heresy character (not a direct conversion, but the character has the same affinity with fire as Vance…) and taught me a valuable lesson regarding having too many OCs.**

**This isn't quite the end this chapter, but it's getting close.**

**And when it gets here, hopefully it'll be as spectacular to you readers as it is in my head.**

**Thanks again to artark for the cover art and (long overdue) thanks to:**

**soldierofknowledge, Hideout Writer, Yoshtar and DaLintyMan, whom I must say went above and beyond the call with four reviews as he went through the story.**

**To everyone who favourited, either me or the story, thank you.**

**To anyone who's following, either me or the story, thank you as well. Makes me feel good knowing what I write is good enough to have a following.**

**Okay, that's enough out of me for the second.**

'**til next time I update (which will be soon, because I AM FINISHING THIS STORY, DAMMIT!)**

**See you then.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter XXI

Sanctioned Psyker, Puzzle Pieces

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Aboard the _Aquila Ascendant_

'By all rights, I should kill this young man and have done with the whole affair. Awakened latent psykers like him are incredibly dangerous and the _Aquilla Ascendant_ is no sort of Black Ship.' Vanko said, glaring at the Farseers on the opposite side of the holo-table.

'He still holds the key to stopping this Malefor though, and I'd like to see you try and get past that dragon guarding him.' Iriannel pointed out.

'You still think so?' Vanko asked rhetorically. 'I gave him quite clear instructions on how to lay the spirit of the Commissar haunting his sword to rest; instead, he's managed to perform a Binding with virtually no resources. He fell through the Warp to here and his powers and mastery have grown unnaturally quickly. There is something very, _very_ wrong going on here and the safest thing we can do about it is kill him.'

+I find myself in agreement with the Inquisitor, Iriannel.+ Eldrad said. +There're factors in play here that shouldn't be: I could not sense the Grey Knight before and then with no warning he is there. Then the Feral King comes blundering into this. That the guardsman is at the heart of this enigma is almost indisputable. However, I sense that he still has some part to play in the events to come, and for it he'll need to be stable.+ He added, the tone of his telepathic speech turned stern as he spoke the last. +I shall see to it myself.+

'No. If he's to be bound-' Vanko cut in sharply.

+I never said that you couldn't provide your expertise, merely that I would perform the binding.+ Eldrad returned. +He will be stable. In the meantime, Iriannel, you shall lead the warhost in cleaning out the cultists on the planet below.+

The Farseer still in possession of an organic body bowed formally at this proclamation and left without another word or a backward glance.

* * *

><p>He was burning.<p>

He tried to scream, but no words came out.

Something vast, terrible and utterly inhuman towered over him in the dark, nebulous nether-realm he'd become so familiar with in his sleep in recent times.

* * *

><p>Then, incandescent pain set his back on fire and he returned to full consciousness with a start, only to find himself restrained and the smell of scorched flesh in the air.<p>

'Hold still.' Said a clipped, authoritarian voice that sounded vaguely familiar. 'This is your Sanctioning. If you resist, I put a bolt through your head and have done with you.' The voice added.

As it finished, something cool and liquid and composed of pain and fire was poured onto then massaged into the scorched flesh of his back.

Vance clenched his teeth and fought the renewed urge to scream.

After an indeterminable amount of time, he was released from whatever shackles had been holding him and he collapsed to the bench he'd been suspended over, before a peculiar, hot, soothing energy enveloped him and before he knew it, he was feeling human again.

He sat up on the bench and found himself face to face with Incandiasa, an imposing man in dark green carapace armour emblazoned with the sigil of the Inquisition and what appeared to be a fifteen foot tall, vaguely humanoid statue with an equally monstrous glaive.

'Inquisitor Torias Vanko.' The man in green armour introduced. 'I already know who you are, Mr Jenkins.'

Vance opened his mouth to reply, but Inquisitor Vanko silenced him with a gesture.

'You need not say anything; I know you have questions and I know you want to help with the present situation; Indeed, you have no choice. I'm sending you and your charming friend here back to the fortress you escaped from. Your task will be to prevent this Cynder creature from charging the last of the keystones it intends to use to unleash this Malefor daemon. Your weapons and armour are over there.' The Inquisitor gestured to a bench.

He and the animate statue left with no further comment.

When they'd left the bare room proper, Incandiasa nudged his chest with her nose.

'I'm glad you're okay.' She said, the relief evident in her voice.  
>'So am I.' Vance said. 'Nice to have a friendlier face than a damned Inquisitor to wake up to at any rate.' He added, standing and grimacing at the still-tender patch of skin across his shoulders.<p>

A body length mirror mounted in the corner beside the bench his armour was stacked on provided the reason why his back still stung as he twisted to examine it:

Across his shoulders was tattooed an Aquilla:

A black outline filled with a dark red like dried blood, with the talons and the blindfold over the rightmost head's eyes done with golden ink. Despite the speed with which the tattoo had been applied, it had still obviously been applied with reverent detail.

Experimentally, he reached for his power and a crackling, heatless red flame sprung to life in his hand as hoarfrost coated the mirror, but the things in the dark that had been haunting him did nothing besides lurk just beyond his perception and didn't seem inclined to whisper or prod at him.

He sighed, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and felt as if a weight had fallen from his shoulders.

He was by no means safe, but he was certainly _safer_ than he had been no more than a day ago.

'So, where did Spyro get off to?' Vance asked curiously as he began donning his armour, ignoring the twinging his new tattoo gave.  
>'He returned to the island where the Guardians are hiding out. Apparently your Inquisitor sent someone to deal with the apes in the Temple.' Incandiasa replied. 'I'd have gone as well, but I didn't trust I'd see you again if I did.'<p>

Vance nearly dropped his chest plate.

'Exactly what am I to you that you'd care so much?' He asked, dreading her answer: to him, she was a living legend and a creature of elemental glory, to be treated with respect and a friend. One he felt ever so slightly guilty about having, given by the Imperial definition she was a xenos. And he knew damn well there was a reason why xenos were universally hated.

Incandiasa cocked her head, her features assuming a curious look.

'You saved my life.' She replied. 'You've never asked for anything from me. You're my friend. A good friend, as it happens.' She added. 'Why do you ask?'

Vance nodded his acceptance, sighing internally.  
>He had a suspicion that Incandiasa wasn't being entirely forthcoming with her feelings, but he didn't want to press the issue.<br>There was only one thing that was a certainty here though: When Inquisitor Vanko headed back to the Imperium and he went with him, things were going to either end in tragedy or at the very least, in a very painful goodbye.

'Just curious, I suppose.' He replied. 'Inquisitor Vanko is going to recruit me. No avoiding it. That means I'll be going back to the Imperium and I'll likely die fighting in his employ.' He looked Incandiasa full in the face. 'When I leave, you're going to need to move on. You won't be coming with me. I consider you a friend as well and I can't in good conscience ask you to come with me to certain death.' He said with gentle conviction.

Incandiasa's expression could only be called injured, but she nodded her acceptance of his statement.

Vance donned his helmet, slung his lasgun over his shoulder and patted her elbow as he made for the door.

'We don't need to have a teary goodbye yet though,' he said encouragingly. 'And there'll likely be down time we can spend just flying or talking when we're done.' He added. 'In the meantime, we've got a mission to attend to.'

The _clicks_ of claws on deck plating let him know that Incandiasa was following him.

Part of him wanted to stay. But if he was honest with himself, now there was a way back home, he would take it. He'd fight like hell for the chance. He was a Guardsman and it was his duty to fight in the Emperor's name in defence of His domain and holdings. And Eternians did not shirk their duty.

Not for family, not for friends, not for anyone.

**Not sure if this is rushed or not, but if there's going to be any grim dark in this, it's going to be the grim, stoic fatalism of a red-blooded Imperial Guardsman who'll put honour before reason and go back into the fight rather than shy away from it.**

**Next chapter I'll likely skip straight to fighting Cynder and entering Convexity, but I might equally as easily decide to do something else.**

**The focus of this story is Incandiasa and Vance and while Spyro gets some screen time, it's more incidental than anything else.**

**It's worked well thus far and I see no reason to change it now.**

**So, thanks this time around:**

**For reviewing: OakheadLord.**

**For favouriting and following, either me or the story: everyone who did or has done either.**

**I'm actually getting so many favourites and follows these days that I've lost track.**

**I have a folder specifically for those sorts of notifications and I do back check to see who I've acknowledged previously, but it's got to the point where the only notifications I can keep track of is reviews.**

**Regardless, thanks. It's nice knowing that people think highly enough of my writing to follow it and favourites are always appreciated.**

**As to my other stories, I've got nothing. I know I'm polishing this off, but I'm damned certain I'll be starting another one to take it's place.**

**The only thing I'm dead certain of with this story's replacement is that it'll be a successor in spirit only:**

**Cast members may cameo, but that'll likely be it.**

**So, on that teaser:**

'**til next time.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter XXII

Unto the Abyss

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Concurrent Skies

Vance allowed himself a tight grin as Incandiasa swept onto the ramparts of the cathedral-esque fortress and threw the apes standing there off the walls.  
>He slid from his perch on her shoulders and drew his lasgun, firing precise shots into the few apes that remained.<br>He paused only to collect the small gem pouches the few apes still on the wall possessed, putting them in his backpack for future use.  
>This complete, he traded his lasgun for his power sword and laspistol, thumbing the activation rune as he did.<p>

They advanced through the guardhouse on the northern end of the rampart and passed out of the entrance onto the internal wall.

They'd sighted Spyro earlier, scaling the heights, but they'd also sighted cultists and apes engaged in combat.  
>At this point, they'd decided to just go through the lightest concentration of apes and avoid the general melee between the two factions.<p>

Their objective was to capture the final energy crystal from Cynder, not fight through the opposing armies of degenerates.

The pair advanced, Vance firing the occasional lasbolt at apes they encountered, or Incandiasa dousing them in flame, slamming them off the rampart with her tail or shoulder, or clawing them open with her talons.  
>They were only on foot now, because the apes apparently still had a couple of lightning cannons operational and getting in close from above had been inadvisable.<p>

However, the fortress itself presented natural cover, if they could get close enough to capitalise.

Vance fired a few more shots at an advancing trio of ape foot soldiers, then came to a stop. He did some quick calculations and estimates in his head then nodded, before turning to Incandiasa, who was looking down at him curiously.

'We should be alright to fly on up from here.' He said confidently.

Incandiasa nodded her ascent and allowed Vance to clamber onto her back again.

'Just as well, Spyro is getting close to the top and we haven't seen Cynder yet, which means she's waiting. He'll likely need help.' Incandiasa replied, before springing into the air.

* * *

><p>The flight up was about as smooth as Vance could've hoped for, but considering that they were in the middle of a fortress that apparently was shrouded in a perpetual thunderstorm, that just meant they weren't struck by lightning.<p>

Apparently having no clear line of sight was no impediment from the ape gunners, though between their poor aim, the fortress's many flourishes that provided cover and Incandiasa's skill at flying, they managed to catch up to Spyro just as Cynder stunned him with a feint that the young purple dragon missed and then sent him flying into one of the support pillars of the vaulted glass roof above.

Before Vance had a chance to process the entirety of the situation, Incandiasa had launched herself onto the tower top occupied by Cynder and the downed purple dragon.  
>Vance jumped down from Incandiasa's back and raised his power sword to a guard position, keeping his laspistol trained on the black dragon as he did.<p>

'You return?' She asked with derision, addressing Vance. 'I won't be so merciful this time.' She warned.  
>'This time he has help, traitor.' Incandiasa hissed.<br>'And you brought a friend.' Cynder added conversationally, still addressing Vance. 'Maybe I'll cripple her and kill you slowly. I'm in the mood to make someone beg after all the disruptions to my plans recently.'

Vance's response, was to take aim and put a lasbolt into Cynder's throat.

The pinprick of white hot pain made Cynder recoil in surprise and lash at Vance with her tail-blade, which Vance deflected for the most part, stepping under the deadly appendage as Incandiasa summoned her halo of fire and slammed into Cynder shoulder-first, her momentum carrying her past Cynder and giving her the opening to bathe her flank in fire.

That was when Cynder retaliated:

Her tail blade whipped back the other way, narrowly missing Vance's head, then followed through to slam into Incandiasa, leaving a deep slash in her thigh where the tail blade had bit and driving Incandiasa to the floor.

Vance meanwhile kept firing with his pistol, twirling his sword in an arc as Cynder shifted her attention to Incandiasa, obviously deeming her the greater threat. Vance reached for his power and made a slashing motion with the sword and snapping arcs of electricity leapt from the blade and hit Cynder from the opposite direction.

The black dragon roared in outrage and whipped around again and this time, Vance was too slow to avoid the retaliatory strike from Cynder's claws, which while stopped by his armour and sword, knocked the breath out of him and sent him skidding backwards, dropping his sword and pistol.

He caught himself as he slid off the edge, his legs dangling over empty space.

Satisfied Vance was pacified, Cynder turned back to Incandiasa just in time to catch the younger dragon as she lunged at her from behind.

Vance meanwhile was struggling to maintain his grip let alone worry about hauling himself up. He slipped and for a sickening moment he thought he'd fall, then a ghostly, cold hand seized his and helped haul him back onto the ledge. He nodded his thanks to Rigal as the Commissar's spectre handed him his pistol, before charging Cynder from behind with his reclaimed sword.

Vance opened fire again with his pistol as Incandiasa and Cynder continued to grapple, his shots finding their mark, but having no appreciable effect.  
>Then Rigal closed and laid Cynder's ribs bare with a single blow from the crackling power sword.<p>

At that, Cynder had evidently had enough.

She bodily hurled Incandiasa clear off the side of the tower, backhandind Rigal back into the ether in the process and leaving his sword to clatter to the ground, then sweeping past Vance and knocking him sprawling, before turning sharply back to a slightly higher tower, appearing above as Vance looked to the sky from his prone position and then disappearing in a kaleidoscope of colour that made Vance retch and vomit off the edge of the tower beside him.

A short distance away, Spyro stirred as the dragonfly Sparx hovered anxiously, trying to rouse him.

Incandiasa flew back and landed beside him, shaking with exertion as Vance retrieved his power sword.

'You okay?' He asked croakily, then reached for his canteen, drank, then spat, trying to wash the taste of bile from his mouth as Spyro hobbled over.  
>'No.' Incandiasa said, her wings drooping. 'We failed.' She added. 'Now the Dark Master will escape and…ancestors, I don't want to even think about it.'<p>

Spyro looked at them, then a familiar red and orange shape broke the skyline of the higher tower and glided shakily down to them.

It was Ignitus.

'You came back for me?' He asked Vance in surprise.

Vance shook his head.

'I thought you with the other Guardians.' He replied honestly. 'It's academic now anyway. We failed.'  
>'No we haven't.' Spyro said, as Vance dug out a few of his liberated gem pouches and emptying them in front of Incandiasa, who immediately looked marginally less miserable as the crystals did their work and closed the wound on her thigh.<p>

With a shrug, Vance emptied the rest of the pouches on the ground, the gems whizzing around him like multi-coloured fireflies and at the three dragons.

'What makes you say that?' Vance asked as he took another drink.  
>'There's still time to get the crystal from Cynder.' Spyro replied.<br>'Still time to kill her and stop her from doing what she intends to, you mean.' Vance corrected.

'No.' This, surprisingly came from Ignitus.  
>'What?' Vance asked.<br>'You've heard that Cynder appeared a few years ago and turned the war in the ape's favour?' Ignitus asked rhetorically. 'She wasn't always like this.'

Ignitus briefly explained about the ape's attack on the dragon temple, how the apes had broken every egg they could find and left the temple in ruins.

'Except, they didn't break all the eggs. You saved mine.' Spyro pointed out.  
>'Yes. But the apes didn't break all the eggs they found. They needed a dragon on their side, born in the year of the dragon to free the Dark Master.' Ignitus explained.<br>'Cynder.' Vance stated, remembering the phantom image of the black dragon he'd seen when he'd been her captive barely a day previously, and Ignitus's previous statement that her corruption wasn't the same as the taint of Chaos.

'Indeed.' Ignitus replied.

'Then we have to try to stop her, none of this is really her fault.' Spyro said.  
>'Maybe not, but she just flew into the frakking immaterium!' Vance interjected. 'I can't follow there, not without killing myself.'<br>'Not quite.' Ignitus said. 'The realm Cynder entered is called Convexity. It serves as a sort of airlock between this world and the Dark Realms, which you call the immaterium. In theory, you should be safe enough there.'  
>'That's a risk I'd rather not take.' Vance said. 'Death by lasbolt, I can accept and abide. A suicide charge into the teeth of the enemy lines, I can do. But going into the warp with no protection?!' He shook his head. I'd take the Commissar's sanction over that. Especially now.'<p>

'Don't worry big guy, we'll protect you.' Sparx said, patting his pauldron patronisingly.

'Whatever you're scared of, we can most likely deal with it.' Incandiasa added confidently.  
>'I don't like this…' Vance said. 'If I sit this one out, no one would blame me. The Inquisitor, my squad, no one. Going into the warp without a ship and a Gellar field is suicide. Pure and simple.' He added.<br>'But we're not going into the warp.' Spyro reminded him. 'And we could use your help. Even if you just used your sword and other weapons.' He added.

Vance took a deep breath and turned to Ignitus.

'The journey into Convexity is not for the faint of heart.' Ignitus stated plainly. 'But there's no inherent magic there, nor creatures of the netherworld.' He added. 'It should be safe enough. Enough debate, go before Cynder completes her task.'

Ignitus's words did nothing to allay Vance's fears, but he was right. If he could even distract Cynder while Spyro and Incandiasa beat her in submission, it could mean the difference between a Chaos Incursion and preventing one.

With solemn movements, he climbed onto Incandiasa's back.

'Let's go.' He said, reloading his laspistol.

**Right.**

**Hopefully, I'm not moving this too fast or making too much of a mess here.**

**Next chapter, or the chapter after that I'm ending this story.**

**My original plan was to do all three games…**

**…And then I got involved in a Dark Heresy campaign and stumbled across the latent psyker career package.**

**I'm not spoiling anything, but I will say that this is likely going to be a more likely end than another sixty chapters, that'd likely be god-mode Imperials and too many OCs and canon 40k characters.**

**I will however, say that it's not going to be a happy ending per sé.**

**It will be in line with most endings to 40k stories:**

**A Pyrrhic victory at best.**

**And that's all I'm saying on the subject.**

**God, I can already see the reviews I'll likely get… (Here's hoping, for trying something as different from the norm as I am…)**

**So, 'til next time.**

**Also, I really need some feedback:**

**Specifically, can you guess how I intend to end this story?**

**If you can, does your guess seem left-of-centre to how the story has gone so far?**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII

The Keeper of the Crossroads

Time Break

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

**A\N: The reason for the two chapter titles is simple: I couldn't settle for one this time and considering how I intend to round this out, it felt **_**appropriate**_** to have interchangeable titles.**

The Swamp.

Spyro tumbled free of Convexity with the freed dragonet that had once been Cynder, The Terror of the Skies, now cleansed of the Dark Master's corruption in his paws and promptly collapsed, falling the few feet to the ground.

Now without the threat of imminent death, he felt his heart thud painfully for some reason. Some loss…

He could see Sparx passed out in front of him, but he still felt as if he'd just left a friend to die in the Nether-world of Convexity.

* * *

><p><span>Convexity. One Hour Earlier…<span>

Convexity, to Vance's mind fit his preconceptions of the warp unsettlingly well:

No real point of reference, disorienting views that played with the mind, unsettling colours, a warped sense of scale and unnatural creatures cavorting.

The only thing missing were the hordes of daemons and the lost and damned, but Vance decided to count his blessings in that account.

Everything about this place felt wrong and foul and he suddenly wished that he'd continued resisting the dragons' cajoling, or jumped off the fortress tower to his death, rather than agree to this madness.

'We shouldn't be here.' He rasped from Incandiasa's back.  
>'Maybe not. But we have to keep going if we want to stop Cynder.' Spyro argued.<p>

Vance wanted to argue, but the distorted sense of scale and the omnipresent light was giving him a headache that throbbed noisomely behind his eyes.

They could see the dragon in question in the distance, circling a blasphemous edifice pulsing with unholy light.

To avoid the attentions of the monsters cavorting around them, Spyro and Incandiasa were jumping from piece of floating debris to piece of floating debris, moving as fast as they could, while Vance clung onto Incandiasa's back, keeping his eyes closed as much as he could and chanting the _Fede Imperialas _under his breath.

_**+Do you feel me, little Mortal?+**_

The question was asked by a distorted voice of molten malice that gave Vance a nosebleed and had him tasting ashes in his mouth. Involuntarily, he groaned and buried his face in Incandiasa's shoulder as his headache intensified to migraine proportions.

Vance felt the subtle shift of Incandiasa leaping out into space as she glided after Spyro towards the next set of stepping stones.

Then, after a moment of serenity at odds with his discomfort, something rammed Incandiasa from the side and sent her reeling.

Vance instinctively went for his pistol and looked in the direction the impact had came from and mewled in anguished despair as he saw the transparent outline, like a tracing made solid hovering in place.  
>The entity came at them again, driving them down through space, until they landed hard on an island far below.<p>

The impact knocked Vance from his seat on Incandiasa's back and sent him sprawling.

He struggled to his feet, fumbling his sword from its sheath, instinctively calling on Rigal for aid.

Skull-rending agony poleaxed him, forcing him to his knees as his sword fell from nerveless fingers.

The stink of ozone filled the air as Incandiasa struggled to her feet.  
>Vance spat blood as the ambient temperature plummeted and ice began to rime the little island of debris and a hole that pulsed pure evil appeared above the ground between Vance and Incandiasa.<br>From seemingly far away, a low, rumbling voice of evil Vance could tell was different from the first he'd heard spoke:

**+THIS IS NOT THE END MORTAL. YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME, I WILL MERELY GO BACK TO THE WARP. ONE DAY I WILL RETURN.+**

The warp rift pulsed anew as another outline appeared within it and began to take on definition.

Whatever wraith had hit Incandiasa squealed in agony as it was destroyed by the newcomer.

Another voice, full of righteous anger answered the first:

_+'That day, someone like me will be waiting for you.'+_

The manifesting daemon howled in pain, as whatever echo had come with it finished and it manifested fully.

Vance was suddenly grateful he had nothing left in his stomach to bring up as he dry heaved.  
>He drew his pistol as he pushed himself up and fired.<br>The beam of light hit the daemon in the arm, but didn't appear to even catch its notice.  
>He groped for his sword as a vicious, cauterised sword-wound across the daemon's neck began to knit itself closed.<p>

He found it and thumbed the activator as he staggered to his feet and gave a feeble cry of righteous hatred for the daemon as he charged it.  
>As the daemon's skin knitted closed, he pivoted and swung the sword with all his might-<p>

-Only to be sent sprawling as a shockwave of power exploded from the daemon as it healed.  
><strong>+Bastard lap dog!+<strong> The daemon cursed, then turned in time to swat Incandiasa aside contemptuously as she tried to charge the daemon from behind. **+Now…+** The daemon said, almost leisurely, turning its attention on Vance as he struggled to rise again. **+A psyker and a dragon, here in an overlap; my, my, my.+**

Its incorporeal form became a flickering, amorphous humanoid that stood chest and shoulders above Incandiasa, which the eye averted from instinctively.

**+None may use the Crossroads without my knowledge. I am their Keeper. I am their Master.+**

Vance succeeded in his effort to rise and fired with his pistol.

This time the shot dissipated a meter from the daemon's chest and it chuckled mockingly.

**+Pathetic.+ **It said, waving a hand in dismissal. **+Come on, free shot. Cast me back to the Abyss and we're done here.+ **The challenge was mocking and made with another hand wave.

Vance didn't doubt for a second it was a trick, but it wasn't as if that hadn't been his plan to start with. Calling on his power, he allowed it to flow into his sword, then charged the daemon again.

As expected, it swung an arm at him, trying to swat him aside again.

Vance ducked under it then brought his psy-charged sword up in an arc that cleaved the daemon from groin to neck in a fountain of unreal ichor.

Another shockwave of percussive force sent him reeling, then searing heat washed over him.

**+Really, it's almost as if you **_**want**_** to see what it's like to be mutated.+** The daemon mocked and Vance felt as he flesh began to run like water.

It was peculiar, disturbing and painful. He writhed, tried to hack off whatever was changing, but unsuccessfully.

He could hear Incandiasa roaring in fury as she tried to kill this daemon, this 'Crossroads Keeper' or whatever it called itself, but to little avail.

At last, the pain stopped.

Vance would've screamed if he'd been able to, instead all that escaped his ravaged mouth was a weak chittering sound.

He couldn't see, but he could feel slime coating his body, claws where once had been hands and he felt as though he weighed ten times what he had.

**+Perhaps you'd care to join him, you pretty thing.+** The daemon hissed and Vance was suddenly sent sprawling as something scaly and warm impacted him hard from the side and let out a muffled grunt of pain before he fetched up against an upthrust of rock.

**+Hmm…+** The Keeper mused to itself, seeming to regard the air.

Far above, the sounds of battle reached them.

**+If only I had the strength to erase you from existence…The fun I could have while I wait in the Warp to return…+ **The daemon mused wistfully.

The feeling of searing heat that would blacken bones licked at Vance's senses then eased.

**+Instead-+** The daemon never completed its thought.

From out of nowhere a lance of violet energy impaled it, followed shortly by another, and another and another.  
>Then something hit Vance in the gut and he was flipped onto his back as the Crossroads Keeper shattered and dispersed under the bombardment of whatever the lances of purple energy were.<p>

'Vance…' Incandiasa's voice sounded above him and Vance sadly chattered a reply, unable to articulate the response he wanted.

Time stopped.

**+I will not be ended like this!+ **The proclamation came at the exact moment that a massive shockwave rocked Vance and lifted him into the air, before he was aware of blood on his fangs, the burn of exertion in wing muscles that were not his own and desire he'd never before felt.

It passed as quickly as it came as something sounded as though as it shattered.

**+This line is ended. And you with it.+**

At the words, Vance felt his identity and his memories fade to oblivion.

He had no loyalty, now.

'Terra.' 'The Emperor.' 'Imperium of Man.' 'Eternia.' They stirred nothing within him.

Now, there was nothing but blackness.

* * *

><p><span>The Dragon Temple.<span>

Spyro awoke then groaned.

Everything hurt.

Across from him, he saw a black dragon of around his own age sprawled tiredly on the ground.

He smiled weakly. Freeing Cynder, even after everything she'd done had been the right thing to do. She deserved a chance to redeem herself.

'You're awake.' Said Ignitus, coming to sit before Spyro. 'I confess, we didn't expect you up so soon.'  
>'What happened?' Spyro asked tiredly.<br>'You freed Cynder and escaped…But it would seem you weren't fast enough to stop Cynder from unlocking the last binding on the Dark Master.' Ignitus said gravely. 'Though, robbing him of his chief servant in the fashion you did should slow him down. You've done well for one so young.'  
>'I can't help but feel like I should be sad though, like I lost a friend in there.' Spyro replied, as the unexplainable melancholy returned.<br>'When it comes to Convexity, who knows? The Dark World is unknowable and time doesn't work as it should.' Ignitus said. 'You very well could have met, gotten to know and then lost someone whom you now can't remember due to the influence of that place.' He added. 'Worry not though. Just relax and recover your strength.'

Spyro nodded as much as he could, his eyelids already drifting shut.

* * *

><p><span>Aboard the <em>Aquila Ascendant.<em>

Inquisitor Torias Vanko watched as below him, a world burned.

The loss of Helhiem was regrettable, but the damnable Cult of the Purple Dragon burned with it. An Inquisition twenty years long had drawn to a close.

'They are undone and time is reshaped.'

Vanko glanced at the elegant Farseer standing to his right.

She and her warhost had been instrumental in hamstringing the Cult's activities while the Eternian 50th Infantry withdrew after they began encountering warp rifts and beasts of the warp.

'Oh?' Vanko asked, curiously, arching an eyebrow.  
>'Something in the warp…it is hard to explain, but it twisted the strands of time, foiled the Cultist's ritual. It's as if some daemon did not want the Cult's plan to come to fruition.' The Farseer explained slowly. 'Though for what purpose, it is probably best we never know.'<br>'And that is as it should be.' Vanko replied. 'Your assistance will be remembered, Farseer. For now however, I think it might be wisest if we part ways.'  
>'I will give you coordinates to a neutral port, we will find passage back to our Craftworld from there.' She replied neutrally.<p>

Vanko nodded sagely.

Now, he had paperwork to file and then he could move on to the next batch of malcontents and traitors that thought they could defy the Imperium.

* * *

><p><span>Somewhere…<span>

He had no memory of how he got there.

All he knew was, he ached all over, felt as disoriented and uncoordinated as a newborn and was wet, cold and just about ready to attempt to curl up and die.

The last thing he felt before the darkness claimed him was someone picking him up and draping him over broad, scaly shoulders before they began walking.

After that, he knew no more.

The End?

**And that's that.**

**I've kind of tried to show rather than tell what was going on there, but if I've failed, here's the short version:**

**The daemon retconned the events that had taken place by disrupting the ritual performed by the Cultists at the start of the story.**

**The daemon itself, may have been to familiar to some of you as The Crossroads Keeper from Ursakar's **_**The Mission Stays the Same.**_

**The reason being is I borrowed said character,-with Ursakar's permission, so kudos to him for letting me use his character.**

**Now, I imagine that the ending is probably going to raise a lot of eyebrows.**

**I left it nebulous on purpose in terms of the fates of Incandiasa and Vance.**

**As to actually explaining further, all I have to say on the subject is:**

**It's the Warp and a Warp Entity we're talking about here.**

**I don't need to explain anything.**

**For reviewing, I'd like to thank my one Guest reviewer and Skepsis Forever.**

**This has been a pretty fun ride, but I feel pretty good I've managed to wrap it up and I'm pretty satisfied with how I've done so.**

**I might come back and edit it later, but that's only if I feel I need to elaborate on half complete thoughts or something.**

**Thanks for reading and please leave a review and let me know what you thought.**

**Until next time.**


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